Reply With QuoteDon't we like Maldanado, purely for entertainment/comedy value?
We start off the year with some good news:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35299887
Wahoo!
Don't we like Maldanado, purely for entertainment/comedy value?
I don't. He's a liability of the worse kind. He often takes out one or two better, more entertaining drivers at the beginning of most races. Good riddance (fingers crossed).
He certainly isn't there based on his driving skills.
The paid drives have never sat comfortably with me.
Quoting the BBC story, it sounds far from certain.....
A Renault spokesman said: "It's speculation at the moment. We have a contract with Pastor. That is the current situation.
Highly rated: Kevin Magnussen finished second on is debut for McLaren in 2014"Who knows what could happen by Australia but, at the moment, we are going forward with Pastor and Jolyon."
Have to agree with Andrew here. It makes me cringe every time one of the pundits (usually Herbert) says that F1 drivers are the best in the world..... If I had a super licence and a spare £100m a year, I'm damn sure I'd get a drive somewhere.
There should be no pay drivers in F1 in my opinion, it goes against the whole ethos of being the best of the best and the pinnacle of motor sport.
Originally Posted by Mikey-r
Perfectly said
Would love to see K-Mag get a full season in a works team.
Pastor's sponsors millions probably only just covers the carbon fibre bill.
Not quite sure why the BBC are bothering posting F1 stories as they summarily dropped it so they can afford dross like the voice....
Yes yes I know it's on. 5live but really .....
Gossip ( in mail admittedly) is coulthard signed for 4 as his and j Humphreys company has the gig... I'm praying this doesn't mean he is back as well though
You'll be shocked to hear that Lauda, M Schumacher and Alonso all started off as 'pay drivers'.Perfectly said
I wasn't aware of that, although I still don't see Maldonado joining that exclusive gang!
Would be interesting to see how many drivers who paid for a drive, turned out to be shocking?
F1 is frequently looking at costs, and paying drivers certainly keep that down, but I would love to see drivers there purely on merit.
Oh come on !! It could be ten squillion times worse............it could be Jonathan Legardj Humphreys company has the gig... I'm praying this doesn't mean he is back as well though
I was under the impression that not only have there been pay drivers in F1 since it started in 1950 but motor racing is often a rich man's son's sport.
"A man of little significance"
see "Max Chilton"
Always a glass half full then not half empty.....
Pay drivers have always been around, but generally it is a means to get in a car to prove your talent. Those that have talent tend to get snapped up by Teams further up the grid, and those that don't only last a few races or a season before disappearing. Natural selection, F1 style.
The disappointing thing about Maldonado is that he has occupied a mid/upper team seat for many years based purely on his backers money, a seat which could have been used as a stepping stone for a more talented driver. Let's not forget that this is a guy who, in a demonstration of his (then) Williams F1 car in his home country, stuffed it into a kerb within a few seconds meaning the thousands who turned up to watch didn't see anything. However, I do admire his thick skin and unshakeable belief that the crashes are never his fault!
Nope, quite aware of the history within F1 of paid drivers.... doesn't alter my point of view though.
But why are the team a mid/upper team? Surely some of this is due to the money brought in by Maldonado.
The teams have a difficult choice to make, they can use natural talent and pay them a salary, but have a reduced budget for the team, or bring in a pay driver who is good but not the greatest (and on this note people are being a little unfair to Maldonado, he is a very good driver, but prone to more mistakes than average) but have a much higher budget which they can use to compensate for the less talented driver.
I'm sure someone has a spreadsheet to work our the break even pint for this!
Oh noes... that will render my favourite website useless :(
http://hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com/
I'm not sure his money has done much more than keep them afloat. As far as Lotus goes, the fact they they have managed to remain a mid/upper team says more about the team personnel than their budget IMO. And that spreadsheet will have a lot of red cells when it comes to repair costs!
As for being unfair, maybe it is. But a very good driver? Compared to me, undoubtedly. Compared to his peers? Not so sure...
You would get a more interesting race here, rather than Monaco......
http://bbc.in/1n0v7Ls
Aston Martin not going in with Force India now.... which is a bit of a shame....
http://www.crash.net/f1/news/226084/...goes-cold.html
Looks like K-Mag has replaced Pastor:
Renault - Magnussen in Maldonado out
Thank feck (x2)!
And his brother
- - - Updated - - -
Doesn't actually say that, does it
It does now: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35463741
Pastor never provided anything other than a dangerous form of entertainment, Grosjean started off the same though at least he grew out of it. Magnussen deserves the chance over Maldonado, of that there's no doubt, and I would think that he's hungry and up for it. Palmer has also been told that he'll need play it less safe compared to his Friday outings last year, if the car is on pace they could be quite an exciting pairing.
Chilton off to IndyCar with Chip Ganassi, going to earn a lot more cash than pay drive in F1 at least so good luck to him
New Renault RS 16 looks class - nice simple colour scheme.
Agreed. A nice lookerNew Renault RS 16 looks class - nice simple colour scheme.
I agree that it looks great, but......
"The car Renault unveiled has a predominantly black livery with flashes of yellow, which is the company's corporate colour. But Renault Sport Racing president Jerome Stoll implied the livery could change before the first race of the season in Australia on 20 March and a spokeswoman said the colours seen on Wednesday were temporary and would only be used for testing."
Word is that Verstappen is 1 sec faster than last year on the same test track - as a result of the Ferrari engine behind him in his Toro Rosso. And then there's still the rumour (first heared last Summer) that Ferrari wants Verstappen for 2017 and the years to come... Wait 'n see...
Menno
It will definitely be changing:
"However, the livery on display is just an interim design for pre-season testing -- where it will also roll out its new-for-2016 RS16 F1 car -- and a different colour scheme will be on the car at the first round in Australia.
"We are not launching [the RS16] but it will be at the test," Renault Sport F1's managing director Cyril Abiteboul said. "It will be with this livery but it will be the 2016 car that we will be actually testing in Barcelona. Then closer to Melbourne there will be a reveal of what the final colour will look like."
My guess is that it will be the (traditional) Renault yellow with black details.
I hope so - great colours
Finally one less idiot in the formula 1 circuit
And the rest...IYO...are, please?
This isn't much of a contribution to be honest but .. after watching F1 for (at least) 40 years - I remember '76 and Hunt V Lauda - I'm actually going to my first ever GP as a birthday present - Wife wanted to take me to Silverstone but I argued for (and got) Spa.
Have seats at Eau Rouge and staying at a Glamping site 5 minutes walk from La Source - just need to work out how to get there now, I'm for driving but don't really fancy being told to slow down for 500 miles ...
Any advice from the regulars on here?
I see testing has started, and there is now a new qualify procedure.
It's not yet final (link):
"Drivers could battle it out in a new elimination-style qualifying format when the Formula 1 season gets under way in Australia next month.
Motorsport bosses want to increase unpredictability amid criticism that race weekends can become too formulaic.
The plan was approved in principle, but teams have gone away to analyse the potential impact."
...and there are other changes, too.
Could be interesting for quali - means that the cars will pretty much have to stay out on track for the whole session unless you're in a Merc.....
I would think q1 would result in top teams going out early but maybe not staying out. The lesser teams will need to run for the full session.
Will be interesting in Q2 and Q3 as will be difficult for them to have out and in laps as will take so much time. Does that mean then need to be fuelled up from the start and keep going? Will get quicker from reduced weight but that will be cancelled out by tyre wear. A real strategy challenge I think to ensure they don't get knocked out part way through
Wow, that new Honda power package seems to have made a mega leap ahead and the reliability looks good too.
Fingers crossed that we will now have two teams having it out behind Mercedes who seem to still have the legs of the lot.
Only the 2.5 seconds behind the Merc...
Five different cars at the top: Tuesday's unofficial testing times from Barcelona.
And 2.5 seconds takes you to a Sauber-Ferrari in 9th place. But it is still only testing.
Be assured that Mercedes is sandbagging BIG time.
Both Ferrari and McLaren cannot afford that luxury. They need the shake down of their hopefully go faster stuff.
The performance of Haas should be rather a wake up call for all of the teams.
Ok, so they bought everything Ferrari could be talked into selling but that still left them with a car/team to put together themselves.
F1 being way different than anything stateside it is nothing short of awesome so far.
On the drivers front I am turning into a Hamilton 'admirer' for the fact that the guy is being himself sod off the politically correct. Chapeau!!!
'Crash-tor' Maldonado.
Sour grapes?
High tech is the raison d'etre of F1; it is where racing improves the breed. Or at least should.
Btw. in all honesty F1 is NOT less exciting than even the hay days.
It is just that back then it was the cutting edge of exciting whereas nowadays there is ample choice of MORE entertaining excitement both on the tube and live.
Lets see what this weekend brings. If Hamilton wins, than that is basically the preview of the '16 camp. If Mercedes walks away with it, than ditto for the season.
Fingers crossed that the Ferrari duo has the legs.
Ta-da:
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