So first two practice session under the belt.

Mercedes were sandbagging, expect them to be even quick in quali and disappear in the race.

Biggest shock was the lap times,

2016 FP2 - 1:38.841
2017 FP2 - 1:23.620

and thats not a typo, 15 seconds quicker

2016 Q3 - 1:23.837

So 0.2 seconds off in FP2

 

WOW. That's some difference. That's amazing.

 

Wasnt it damp/wet last year though dude ?

 

It'll be interesting to see if that difference in performance continues through the season. Would be good to see F1 get back to being properly quick.

 

The cars are quite a bit different, apart from being wider and the tyres a good couple of inches wider on each corner they have 25% more grip alone. Should be very interesting to watch.


I hope Redbull and Ferrari give Merc a good fight.


Thankfully they've also scrapped that stupid double move overtaking penalty rule. Will be difficult enough to overtake with the cars being wider and faster. Should make things more interesting.


I predict a 1st corner pile up on race 1 while everyone gets used to how wide the new cars are!

 

You saying that's just had me thinking the turn 1/2 chicane at Monza will be carnage but they went and bloody removed after the 2016 season

 

Monaco should be interesting this year!

 

that im not sure of chap

 

I reckon that Ferrari are sandbagging as well, they were definitely holding back in test and i wouldnt be surprised if they suddenly get a lot quicker in qualifying. Mercedes do still look like the car to beat but i think its closer than practice has currently shown.

 

I think ferrari played there hand not expecting to be so far off merc

 

So alonso is gonna miss monaco to go race in the indy 500,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39576099

Given how boring the race is at monaco i can't blame him. But it does raise the question, will alonso be in indycar for a full season next year?

 

I thought it was a late April fool at first,
He isnt happy and would love to be doing BTCC rather then F1 at the moment,
Very rare for a fit driver to miss any GP, so how bad are things really at Team Mclaren ?

 

i don't think so. I reckon bottas will get booted and alonso will go to Mercedes.

 

Monaco's never interesting lol

 

I suspect its an attempt to keep him sweet, right now doesnt really mater whos behind the wheel, big bird would do just as well the car is that bad

 

I don't think that will happen tbh Alot will depend on ferrari and what they do

 

most exciting thing last ywear was the drain cover coming off and nearly taking out JB.

I can appreciate the history of monaco, but it has no place being on a competative race calender.

 

That just won't happen. Bottas is good enough to hold down that seat, and Alonso, for all his experience and skill, is coming to the end of his F1 career. He is also an expensive driver to have on the books compared to some of the younger talent like Bottas and Verstappen.
He has stated he want to drive endurance so I think that's where he will go when he leaves McLaren.

 

If he gets on well at indy500 i expect he will be indy driver next year anyway

 

Alonso has in the past offered to drive for AMG Mercedes for free, and they turned him down, so I cant see that changing, as mentioned Valtteri is a ideal number 2, no real stress and is solid on his day.

 

At last!...


Ministers give Formula One the green light to hold British Grand Prix on the streets of London

https://apple.news/AzPy_6lxBTaC1IzaSvEyDEg


(Assuming the will of the govt of the day ACTUALLY allows it, of course. )

 

Not F1, but Alonso.

 

Be good if it happens.

Although "On the public roads for the first time" is incorrect. The Birmingham street races were epic.

 

So, another car, another blown up honda engine. Can't see alonso being in any team with anything to do with Honda next year.

Redbull are bitching again and threatening to pull out, sooner they sod of so we don;t have to listen to them moan the better.

 

But the car that actually won the Indy500 was powered by who ?

I saw the story about Red bull threatening, again,
and 2 million for fuel development
And that`s what Red bull paid, if it was with Renault, then how much did it really cost !

 

and how do you think that makes alonso feel when he's already pretty pee'd off with them?

Redbull are only happy when they are winning in what ever they are doing (F1 or beyond).

F1 needs to sack off 90% of its rules and bring back innovation.

 

I feel for Honda, they were rushed into the sport by Ron Dennis, so their weird concept of the turbo design was testing in full view of the F1 world, when Mclaren demanded results(which you can understand) they tried to rush a new design through (a Merc Copy) who had their own bench issues with the same kind of vibrations from the split turbo shaft, but they were that, on a dyno, as they werent forced into full view testing,
Honda are only in the first year of "this" design combustion engine, Renault had more then their fair share of issues and 3 years later still havent caught up,
So how can Honda redesign and catch up in a fraction of the true time it has taken the others, and Merc still get engine failures and they are believed to be top dogs in the Combustion element area still,


as an example of how time is crucial in F1, Toto is quoted in an Austrian paper as saying that Ferrari had 16 weeks advantage on them for the 2017 car, and that`s worth around half a second in down force,

I can clearly see why people are frustrated but looking at the whole picture it is somewhat understandable they are struggling to catch up a 3 year old design in 8 or 10 months,

They have manged massive gains in harvesting and storage of the hybrid side, which gets lost a little as every car passes them on a long straight lol

 

I don't understand why honda didn't go down the hcci split turbo route from the off, McLaren had that engine for them to copy off, and everyone in the paddock knew about the split turbo idea within a few weeks, so they could be a lot closer had they not been so stubborn.

 

They obviously saw gains and that the variable idea was more powerful, they just couldnt get it too work in the restricted/forced time frame,
I imagine after the financial input the concept is still being worked on, just not now being run/tested in the public eye,

"If" they had got it right, would we now be asking Mercedes and Ferrari who


The fact is they did win the Indy 500 with one of their engines, so is it a fundamental engine issue or finger trouble ?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/40196307

McLaren have "serious concerns" over whether they can win the world championship with engine partner Honda, says executive director Zak Brown.

The former world champions are facing their worst ever season after failing to register a single point so far in 2017 after a series of engine failures.

Brown said engine upgrades promised for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix were not ready and the team is "near our limit".

"Honda's working very hard but they seem a bit lost," he told Reuters.

"We were eagerly awaiting this upgrade as were our drivers and it's a big disappointment that it's not coming.

"It's not lack of effort, but they are struggling to get it to come together."

What next for McLaren-Honda?
'Honda risking reputation' - Alonso
Brown, who replaced Ron Dennis at the McLaren helm last year, added: "Our preference is to win the world championship with Honda.

"But at some point you need to make a decision as to whether that's achievable. And we have serious concerns.

"Missing upgrades, and upgrades not delivering to the level we were told they were going to, you can only take that so long. And we're near our limit.

"We're not going to go into another year like this, in hope.

"There's lots of things that go into the decision and we're entering that window now of 'which way do you go when you come to the fork in the road'."

McLaren's renewed partnership with Honda in 2015 was billed as a return to the glory days of their collaboration in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna dominated.

McLaren explore Mercedes engine option
Canadian GP: Alonso returns... and seagulls
Yet McLaren remain without a race win since 2012 and their best finish this season was when Fernando Alonso, who started seventh on the grid, came 12th in last month's Spanish Grand Prix.

In March it was revealed McLaren had made an exploratory approach to Mercedes about engine supply in the wake of problems with Honda.

And Brown again raised the prospect of McLaren paying for engines in future.

"Do I think you can win with a customer engine? I think you can," he said.