Kubica admits WEC switch would be “difficult” after test

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Robert Kubica says competing in an endurance race could be difficult because of his injuries, after testing the ByKolles team’s LMP1 car.

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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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30 comments on “Kubica admits WEC switch would be “difficult” after test”

  1. Kubica brings back so many good memories. I miss someone like him in the current grid. No money, no backing, just talent.

    1. and the ability to conquer a track that could have ended his career.

    2. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      21st November 2016, 0:44

      Still devastated to not see him on an F1 grid. Definetly would be up there for challenging for titles. Just wish Renault were more insistent on him not doing rallies.

  2. “Two 40-minute races with a 40-minute break in the middle when the drivers could be interviewed, cars worked on, would be attractive to viewers

    Not this one!

    If I wanted to watch 2 (Or more) shorter races i’d go watch touring cars or something. A lot of the reason why I watch & indeed prefer F1 over those other categories because F1 is 1 longer GP race rather than several shorter races & if F1 ever did go down the multi shorter race route I just can’t see myself ever loving it as much as I have done up until now.

    Indycar actually tried something like that in 2011 at Texas by splitting the race into 2 with a break in the middle & it just wasn’t as good as the traditional single long race, The drivers didn’t really like it & nor did the fans which is why it ended up been a 1 off.
    The race ended just when it was starting to get good & when it restarted it never quite delivered what the 1st part looked like it was starting to dish up when it ended.

    1. This pitch, hoping that a sorry, recycled idea like this somehow sticks to the wall must be intended for the new owners. You know, for Bernie to demonstrate how forward thinking he is coming up with such great new plans for F1.

      1. @bullmello Yes could be. Still worrying that even he thinks this is the thing what the new owners would go for..

      2. Or even Bernie trying to utterly destroy what is there with his crazy ideas @bullmello. If you read that interview with him on AMuS (the German one) he is clearly not here to work together with them

    2. ColdFly F1 (@)
      21st November 2016, 6:23

      I don’t mind 2x40min races.
      As long as the drivers enter the pits and stay in the car.
      Teams are required to change tyres to a different compound and allowed to work on the car.
      To add some competition the driver can leave the pit as soon as the team is done; even if this is less than 40mins.
      And the team/driver decide themselves when they do this break.

      Finally a reasonable idea by the old guy.

      1. Hahaha, nice.

      2. Comment of the day?!

  3. More of something diminishes the value of a singular unit.

    21 races is already too much. 2 x 40 minute races would just make f1 stupid with too many events and no real importance to winning a singular one. It will kill the thrill. The races won’t be an event, just a statistic.

    As a fan I would absolutely HATE such a move, and I’m pretty sure so would the teams. They do still fight for the ‘essence’ of F1, and this would be in gross violation of tradition.

  4. “F1 should be prepared for manufacturers to quit.”

    Just about the only thing Ecclestone says that I can agree with. Of course, this begs the question as to why he has decided to grant the big corporate teams a significantly larger financial payout as well as heavy political power.

    Big companies come and go but there’ll always be enthusiastic privateers.

    1. This possibly why Bernie keeps harping on about the fact that we dont need these hybrid engines.

      I used to be of the opinion that F1 needs to be the pinnacle of motoring technology as well as motorsport. However, in recent years, WEC has taken over the mantle as the more technologically advanced series, and in the same time, I’ve accepted the fact that F1 is entertainment, just like football or cricket.

      The hybrid engines were introduced to entice manufacturers. It worked. Mercedes signed up, Honda came back and so did Renault. However,as Bernie says, the moment it becomes irrelevant to their marketing campaign, they’re out. They may or may not continue as engine suppliers, which would leave F1 in a hole.

      I dont follow the ins and outs of NASCAR, but isnt it a good example of how motoring entertainment should work? It only caters to an isolated market, but it does so very well. Fans get what they want, and dont care if not exactly 21st century technology under the hood.

      If there is a series called F1 in say..2030, would you surprised if they’re driving around with privately prepared AER or Cosworth V8s? Not really.

    2. That’s right. Privateers built F1, and F1 built privateers. Ferrari and McLaren are shining examples of successful car companies built from a racing pedigree. There are only 3 full manufacturer teams anyway.

    3. Like Ferrari and McLaren.

  5. Ecclestone said that Singapore has achieved their objective with the GP and they don’t want it anymore. If this is true, this will be a shame; if I had to choose between the Malaysian and Singapore GP’s I would pick the latter. If there is another Grand Prix I would like to see in Asia aside from the Indian GP coming back is a GP in Hong Kong.

  6. As was pointed out a few month back, Ernie Hacklerock always throws out a far more extreme proposal than what he actually intends to achieve in the end. With this in mind, I think he does have a plan for some sort of change to the format and is testing the waters.

  7. Smedley and Massa – arguably the biggest bromance of modern Formula 1.

    1. I sensed something similar could be about to happen, @phylyp, and if Smedley is denying it then this must be the most romantic coincidence of recent years!

  8. Regarding the first news of Kubica, there’s two contrasting articles. Another one where he is sounding more positive…

    http://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/kubica-says-injury-limitations-no-obstacle-to-possible-wec-career-852247/

    Dunno which one to trust.

    1. The first article was also quite positive…it’s just the headline on this site that was negative! The article actually said, “Kubica admitted concern that the limited mobility in his right arm could pose difficulties, but came away encouraged that he could compete in long-distance races.”

      So what it’s saying is that he thought there would be more difficulties but in the end it was better than he thought. He did set the fastest time in a car that wasn’t set up for him at all. It would be great to see him in WEC…I followed him the whole time he was in WRC – very fast but unfortunately also crashed a lot…I suspect that his limited arm movement hinders him in reacting quickly in some situations.

  9. So basically what Ecclestone proposes is the WTCC format? Because I don’t find that particularly exciting.

    You can have epic 24 minute or epic 24 hour races. If the cars can’t race without bland overtaking buttons then it won’t improve anything.

    This is just another case of Ecclestone ignoring the actual problems, whilst proposing a so-called fix to a problem which doesn’t even exist.

  10. Is Paul Hembery on crack ?
    In what way was Brazil a good race for them ?
    The wet tires were terrible again, and no one had anything good to say about them. It may have been one of the best races of the season, but that wasn’t because of the tires.

    I hope they can build some decent tires with the extra testing they’ll have next season, if they’re still this bad this time next year it should be an indication that it’s time to bring some other manufacturer(s) back to replace them.

    1. “As far as I’m concerned we’ve just had one of the best races from our six years in Formula 1, so it didn’t look too bad from a spectator’s point of view.”

      He’s definitely on drugs, you can’t be that stupid.

  11. Reading that tweet from Sam Bird, and then having a look trough the F1 grid and see names like Gutierrez, Ericson, Palmer, Nasr, Haryanto and even Kvyat really is something

  12. I’d love to hear what Ross Brawn would try to do, surely not two 40 minute races. Here’s my fantasy…Someone posted that NASCAR fans don’t get the 21st technology but get what they want. Loud earthshaking V8s that make you go wow every time you here them even after years of experiencing it.That will never change in NASCAR ever. I haven’t been to the Montreal GP since 2014 because half the thrill for me was the screaming crazy noise. The noise made everyone go holy crap with a smile on their face. Paying $3000.00 US for a weekend isn’t worth the hybrids lack of thrill for me and we sound like broken records talking about engine noise, but I know every poster on here would welcome it back. I’m sure Singapore would.

    1. I’ve been to the Canadian Grand Prix a couple of times over the past 5 years, including 2013 with the V8s, and then the last two years with the turbos. While I found the cacophony of the V8s mind-blowingly loud, that was all it was: extremely, impressively loud. There was no way of telling cars apart by the sound, and it became fatiguing quickly, even with ear protection. While the noise was incredible, I prefer the turbo sound, because you can tell different cars apart, and there’s a lot more aural information that you get to hear, rather than being just overwhelmed by exhaust shriek. You can hear the tires working or locking, you can hear the sounds of the tracks surface, like the rumble of the warning track, and you can hear a lot more texture in the car’s sounds. Moreover, it’s actually possible to talk to those you’re watching the race with about the on-track action without screaming in their face.

      I see it more as a question of quantity over quality. Instead of having the loudest things ever being constantly loud, there’s now less noise, but it’s more detailed and dynamic. My buddy and I both remarked in 2013 that our favourite cars to hear were the Caterham and Marussia, because they sounded grittier, with more stuttering and popping. They sounded more mechanical, we assumed owing to their less refined engine mapping. The engine was more of a character with a personality. Now every car has an engine that has a greater richness of sound, albeit at a much lower level.

      That being said, when our group of first timers got to Montreal after driving since 4am, and disembarked from the subway at Station Jean-Drapeau around 10:30am, we could already hear the engines buzzing like bees from almost a kilometre away from the circuit. Stepping out of the subway station and hearing the cars on track from that far away is one of my very favourite travel memories. I do understand where people complaining about the noise are coming from. I’m glad I experienced the V8s, because it was literally unreal how loud they were, but from a trackside perspective, I’m happier with the current sound.

      Just wanted to politely make the not “every poster” point!

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