I suspect you're in the minority not buying a car because one of their drivers for a race series has earrings and a hair cut you dont like tbh but fair enough. 

 

Agreed and while I think LH does look a bit of idiot out of the car, I watch F1 to see him driving in the car where his personal image doesn't matter. 

 

I was never that bothered about Mercedes until I heard that phenomenal 6.3 V8 in person roaring by, I'd love one of the new C63 AMG estates

 

Were the medical cars out doing hot laps during any of the practice sessions?

For years people have moaned about the identiclone F1 drivers who have no personality other than their corporate image.

 

Kimi is derided for Finnish traits of drinking, partying and not taking his job seriously. Lewis is a young black man so why shouldn't he look and act like one.

 

How many of the other drivers stand out at all?

Not all young black men are, or act like, gangstas. Try watching interviews with, for example, Usain Bolt, Johan Blake or Asafa Powell. Sure, they all speak with Jamaican Patois, but they don't go out of their way to act like they came from USian ghettos.

Given that both Ferrari drivers were soundly cuffed by their teammates last year, surely Alonso or Ricciardo would have made better use of this years car.

 

It stands to reason that the new Ferrari would almost be a match for the Merc - if only it had a truly fast #1 driver in it.

 

No, it doesn't stand to reason at all particularly given one of the main issues with the Ferrari is its difficulty in dealing with the disrupted aero when it's around other cars.  Alonso may have been slightly quicker but not a chance he would have been anywhere near the Mercedes cars which suffer no disadvantages at the moment and appear to have  been largely cruising, it's likely they could have been quite a bit faster if they needed to be.

Statement from GvDG:

 

 

Giedo van der Garde statement

‘We have reached a settlement with Sauber and my driver contract with the team has been ended by mutual consent. As a passionate race driver, I feel sad and am very disappointed. I have worked very hard my entire career, ever since starting with go-karts at the age of eight, to live my dream and become a successful Formula One driver. I had hoped at last to be able to show what I am capable of, driving a car for a respected midfield team in the 2015 season. This dream has been taken away from me and I know that my future in Formula One is probably over.

 

I had a valid driver contract for the entire 2015 season and enforceable rights to it. I pushed very hard until last Saturday in Melbourne to get the drive that I was entitled to. This legal process started in 2014 and has taken a great deal of effort. It was never a last minute thing, but it only became public in the last week when we tried to force the team to accept the rulings of a succession of legal authorities and courts.

 

I am a race driver and all I want is to race. However, the team principal was adamant not to let me drive, notwithstanding my legal rights to do so and a series of rulings and court orders in my favour and despite my race driving abilities. I will never understand this. I could have persisted, but the team principal had taken a decision contrary to my contract that she would not work with me and this became painfully clear in the paddock in Melbourne. To push on against this determination might have brought down the team, it would most certainly have wrecked the opening Grand Prix in Melbourne because the team´s cars would have been seized by the court, it may have ruined the careers of two young drivers Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. Possibly the team´s directors would even be taken into custody. I decided I did not want to live with that idea, even though it was only the team’s management that was responsible for the bizarre situation I found myself in.

 

I am very grateful to my fans and many friends in Formula One who have given me a lot of support during the last couple of months. This period has been very difficult for me especially since I could not talk to anybody about the pending proceedings. Last week, many drivers on the grid gave me their support and several of them did so openly in the media as well. The same goes for several leading figures in the paddock who include team bosses and reputable former Formula One drivers. I thank them as well.

My future in motorsport has not finished: on the contrary, I see this as a new beginning. I will sit down with my management in the coming weeks to discuss my future plans. I would love to take part in the WEC and the Le Mans 24 Hours in an LMP1 car. Former Formula One drivers do very well in this series. We also have our eye on other series such as the DTM in 2016 and beyond.

 

There has been a lot of speculation in the media over the past week, so I want to set out clearly that my sponsors paid the sponsorship fee related to the 2015 season in its entirety to Sauber in the first half of 2014. This was simply in good faith and to help the team deal with its cash problems at the time. Effectively, it was my sponsor’s advanced payments that helped the team survive in 2014.

 

Sauber’s financial decision-making in this case is bizarre and makes no sense to me. I am not at liberty to discuss details, but Sauber paid significant compensation to avoid honouring the contract they had with me. Only in that respect can I be satisfied that my rights have finally been recognised and that at least some justice has been done.

I want to thank McGregor for sponsoring me from the time I won the Formula Renault 3.5 Ltr. Series in 2008. I hope we can continue to build on this as my motorsport career goes forward in other series.

 

I want to thank my family, my father Gerrit and my wife Denise in particular, for their tireless support throughout the years that I have been chasing my Formula One dream. The last couple of months have been especially hard for me but they have always stood by me. Of course, I also want to thank my father-in-law, Marcel Boekhoorn, who has been a great supporter during my entire career through the motorsport ranks. Without him, I would not have got this far.

 

I also thank Jeroen Schothorst and Jan Paul ten Hoopen for managing my career and business affairs since 2008 and in particular for their unconditional support during these last four and a half months. I also extend thanks to my legal advisor Gijs Rooijens and the law firms, Druces, Blackstone Chambers and King & Wood Mallesons (Australia), that worked very hard and enthusiastically – sometimes literally day and night and during weekends – to fight for my rights.

 

Finally, I would like to direct a few words to the teams, drivers, future drivers, their managers and the Formula One governing bodies. I sincerely hope that what has happened to me will start a movement aimed at setting new standards and bringing about new regulations to help protect the rights of drivers. I would like to think that the values and business ethics that apply in any other business should be equally applicable in Formula One. I am lucky to have had Marcel and Jeroen on my side. Both of them have extensive backgrounds in business and bring a lot of expertise to the table when it comes to resolving complicated business affairs. Without them, I would have remained empty-handed in the wake of this extraordinary affair. There are numerous examples of talented drivers with good intentions but without the sort of professional support that I have had, who have been broken by Formula One and who have seen their careers destroyed. I therefore hope that my unprecedented case which was heard last week by the Supreme Court of Victoria at Melbourne will serve as an example to illustrate what should change, and that new regulations will be implemented to help protect driver rights.’

It's a shame, of the 6 or 7 pay drivers we've had over the past couple of seasons I quite liked Giedo, once he got a couple of races under his belt I think he stood up well to his team mate, I'd 100% have him in the car of 'Sony' Ericsson, but I guess he doesnt bring the money needed. 

Interesting how much of an uproar is now in the media about Merc engine advantage which I find extremely bizarre! 

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/formula-1-red-bull-hint-f1-exit-boring-055234378--f1.html

It's like everybody writing that drivel somehow forgotten that Mercedes-Benz F1 Team is not the only with the Mercedes engine at the back!! If you stop (read castrate) Mercedes all the other teams using their engines will suffer as well, simply insane! As much as it makes it boring I consider this type of meddling to be suicidal to the sport and simply cheating!

 

As for the DvDG - typical ruthless corporate ethics. People do not matter, just hard cash, so we regardless of anything we can $hit on them from up high.

Having said that I'd love to hear the other side of the story, what Kaltenborn has to say?

KenONeill, on 18 Mar 2015 - 08:53, said:KenONeill, on 18 Mar 2015 - 08:53, said:

Not all young black men are, or act like, gangstas. Try watching interviews with, for example, Usain Bolt, Johan Blake or Asafa Powell. Sure, they all speak with Jamaican Patois, but they don't go out of their way to act like they came from USian ghettos.

 

However 2 of them have been banned in the past for illegal substance use so IMO are less likely ambassadors for a major multi-national than squeeky clean gangsta boy LH.

Edited 18 March, 201511 yr by camelspyyder

JohnMcL7, on 18 Mar 2015 - 10:04, said:

No, it doesn't stand to reason at all particularly given one of the main issues with the Ferrari is its difficulty in dealing with the disrupted aero when it's around other cars.  Alonso may have been slightly quicker but not a chance he would have been anywhere near the Mercedes cars which suffer no disadvantages at the moment and appear to have  been largely cruising, it's likely they could have been quite a bit faster if they needed to be.

 

I have not read that this years Ferrari is poor in traffic but I'll take your word on it.

 

My point was not that the Ferrari is incredibly fast, but that, based on last years evidence, a different driver line-up could probably wring a few more tenths out of it

Don't forget that it is not about the being quick in some sort of universal "car quickness test". It is all about whether a driver can work with a particular car i.e. some like loose rear ends, some prefer a bit of understeer but rock solid rear, some can only drive fast with perfect linear response curves others do not mind a "spikey" ride - it is all about driver-car pairing. Looks like SV likes the Ferrari

However 2 of them have been banned in the past for illegal substance use so IMO are less likely ambassadors for a major multi-national than squeeky clean gangsta boy LH.

Given that athletes have effectively been banned for "not being a qualified pharmacist" I'm not sure that's a valid argument (without checking the individual cases). It doesn't actually affect my argument that they don't come across in interviews as "trying to be cool by acting unnaturally for their upbringing" anyway.

Anyway Malaysia....

It should rain which normally closes the field up.

 

Much noise previously on this forum about how fast the McHonda was on the wet test day.

It should rain which normally closes the field up.

 

Much noise previously on this forum about how fast the McHonda was on the wet test day.

Probably because it didn't have the power to spin the wheels.

Much noise previously on this forum about how fast the McHonda was on the wet test day.

 

Must have been a torrential rain

Jabozuma, on 18 Mar 2015 - 22:10, said:

Must have been a torrential rain

 

I didnt believe it either but on here it was reported that Alonso was as fast as Rosberg in damp conditions at Jerez I think???

I would love McHonda (like that ) to well, really! Unfortunately we have to face the facts and this season is a development one really.

They simply have to keep finishing races and that is their goal. Gather data and have a crazy development curve. If they are within 0.5 sec per lap off Mercs by the end of the season it would be near miracle - let us pray brothers and sisters!

I think by the time teams come back to Europe, McLaren will have sorted the issues.

There's very little they can do on the opening away races.

I think by the time teams come back to Europe, McLaren will have sorted the issues.

There's very little they can do on the opening away races.

 

Andrew Benson at BBC Sport reckons McHonda are 5 seconds off the pace, and only 3 seconds of that is engine related.

 

I don't anticipate that car being sorted in short order.

Aero?

McHonda are wrestling with the biggest problem a F1 car can have - they are not able to "switch on " the tyres, the package is not generating enough heat in the tyres and they have as much grip as my vRS lol

gadgetman, on 19 Mar 2015 - 14:46, said:

Aero?

 

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31942251

Oh well, I was hoping I'd be all wrong writing here that McHonda should forget about fighitng for anything this season and simply treat it as a one big year long testing programme. Unfortunately they still believe they can do it if they are saving engines and limiting pre-race drivers practice time. What is the point?? Even if they keep putting a complete new power unit every race penalties will make no difference whatsoever, they will still be last I am afraid. They should really bite the bullet, pull all stops and sacrifice this season for development to come up trumps next year. 

It is encouraging their areo went the predictable, consistent downforce delivery way instead of chasing numbers and making the cars undriveable as JB was saying, this is a very good base and plays to the strengths of JB and FA as drivers.

It also no good saying that the engines had to be turned down as they were afraid they will not be able to withstand the temps and hence the awful lap times...  

I don't know when Honda actually started their project, but Mercedes were working on theirs at least 3 years in advance (2011?).

 

You are never going top catch up from that many years behind.

 

Also, Honda's experience so far will undoubtably discourage any more manufacturers (VAG?) from joining in.

I can see VAG buying Manor should the inevitable happen

I think they simply came to the party a year too early. Engine on the dyno was fine but when they "shrink-wrapped" it in the bodywork it started to overheat and apart form redesigning the whole rear end there is not much they can do. I think power wise on the dyno they are not far behind Mercs if at all but the package is at best 30% ready. They will be fine next year imho opinion and should really use this year as development only and forget about racing really...