In the round-up: Sergio Perez says he has proven his “speed and consistency” in 2012.
Links
Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:
Sergio Perez eyes Ferrari move (London Evening Standard)
“If there is an opportunity with them (Ferrari) or another team then it’s the time to know. I will have to see what the options are, and from that I will decide. But I think I have done a very good job this season. I have proven I have the speed, and the consistency as well.”
Pirelli: Tyre war not good for Formula 1 (Autosport)
Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery: “We work for the sport. The sport has to decide what it wants. If it wants a tyre war and procession racing again, like it did in the early 2000s, when the audience disappeared, than that’s one approach. It’s not for us to decide.”
Why Mercedes are struggling (BBC)
“To solve that rear tyre wear problem, since the Canadian Grand Prix in mid-June Mercedes have removed quite a lot of the downforce-producing devices on the front wing and are never running anywhere near maximum front wing angle.”
Alan Permane: “For most of that second stint, as he sat some way behind Vettel, I didn’t foresee him doing anything other than staying there and I was a bit concerned at how slow he was going. But he’d just been looking after his tyres and when the time came, he just went crazy. He was quite awesome there.”
“I remember when Jean Alesi [threw] his helmet in to the crowd after he won the race in Montreal and Ferrari went to get the communications piece back because they thought it was worth more than the helmet!”
McLaren: Policy at a price? (GrandPrix)
“Unbelievably, [Alain] Prost leaned over the rail and dropped the trophy into eager hands waiting below. [Ron] Dennis, having received the winning team’s cup, could not believe what he was seeing. Outraged beyond words, Dennis threw the constructor’s trophy at Prost’s feet. It was an extraordinary scene in what amounted to the public airing of a private dispute over the family silverware.”
Comment of the day
Darkenforca’s Whack-A-Mole theory of F1 technology:
In regards to Double DRS, it reminds me of the game Whack-A-Mole.
Every time that a new innovation comes into Formula One, it gets whacked over the head and then is eventually replaced by something else.
That also gets whacked over the head.
Darkenforca
From the forum
- The Lotus T128 has been revealed. No, not the F1 car, the LMP2 car. Yes, it’s yet more Lotus naming nonssense…
- Should British and FIA European F3 merge?
- New IndyCar rule tries to stop drivers using Push-to-Pass as Push-to-Defend
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Daniel and Nefer!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Luigi Villoresi won the non-championship Daily Mail trophy on this day 60 years ago, driving for Ferrari.
Mike Hawthorn drove a Cooper-Bristol to third place behind Francesco Landi, in another Ferrari, in the race at Boreham Airfield in Essex.
Image ?? Sauber F1 Team
matt90 (@matt90)
2nd August 2012, 0:53
ESPN has a typo (through where it should be threw) carried through. Maybe a [sic] would be good.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
2nd August 2012, 8:20
@matt90 Better just to amend it I reckon. Thanks for that.
Himmat
2nd August 2012, 14:44
What does {sic} mean? I see it a lot for twitter quotes in newspapers.
Julian (@julian)
2nd August 2012, 14:55
When you directly quote something with an error in it you put [sic] after it to show its not your error but the person’s you are quoting.
frood19 (@frood19)
2nd August 2012, 17:00
‘sic erat scriptum’ is latin for ‘as it was written’
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
2nd August 2012, 0:53
There might be no Formula 1 on for a month, but you can still see an ex-Formula 1 driver racing. Jacques Villeneuve is back in the #51 Pepsi Max Commodore at the Paperclip – the local name for Queensland Raceway (follow the link; you’ll see why it’s called “the Paperclip”) – this weekend, and he’ll be taking part in the round at The Circuit Formerly Known As Eastern Creek later this month. Kelly Racing, the team who run the #51 car, have just unveiled Villeneuve’s new livery (which is much nicer than his Townsville atrocity), which kind of got lost in the storm of publicity surrounding the announcement that Red Bull will replace Vodafone as title sponsor of Triple Eight Race Engineering next year.
Hopefully Villeneuve can do a little better this time around. He certainly can’t do any worse.
Toro Stevo (@toro-stevo)
2nd August 2012, 16:01
Villenueve was propping up the field pretty badly in Townsville, he was a few seconds slower each lap. He seems to be bringing his name and reputation, but not much in the way of driving. The v8s can be a hard beast to master, but I think his performance was probably more a reflection of his current form. The short track should at least make the gap look more respectable.
Liking the new livery though, the Murphy car has had a few shockers in the last season and a half, looks like they’re finally getting it right.
Rick Kelly must be a bit miffed about the Triple-8 Red Bull deal though. I thought they were a shoe-in at Kelly racing, given their links with Rick. But I guess Red Bull have a habit of trying to sponsor the best team on the market, and that just happens to be the best team in the field at the moment.
Robbie (@robbie)
2nd August 2012, 16:42
Meanwhile, JV will be in Montreal (Aug. 18) on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve running a Nationwide car as he did a handful of weekends ago at Road America. In fairness to JV, who still yearns to race, he needs a full time gig somewhere so he can gel with a team. These one-off type races, be they in Australia or NA don’t give him the chance to show the super-talent that he still has.
F1Yankee (@f1yankee)
2nd August 2012, 0:59
i believe the “policy” link should be
http://www.grandprix.com/columns/maurice-hamilton/policy-at-a-price.html
BROOKSY007 (@brooksy007)
2nd August 2012, 1:53
Just read the article – thanks mate!
If the replicas are made by the same person and are identical, really what’s the difference!
If I was hamilton I’d want my choice of chassis / car from every season with whatever upgrades installed!
Can you imagine having all those mclarens lined up in your garage! Perhaps a glass wall between your living room and garage so you can see them always! Maybe some mood lighting and the cars rotating on turntables!
To the humble F1Fantic fan – XXX porn!!
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd August 2012, 8:57
Yeah, I am completely with you @brooksy007, who wants a shelve full of Santander logo’s apart from their PR department anyway! Far more impressive to have a go at getting that elusive McLaren F1 and maybe the cars he won his championship(‘s – in the future?) with.
@HoHum (@hohum)
2nd August 2012, 2:36
Thank ee Yankee.
Klaas (@klaas)
2nd August 2012, 7:09
I get the impression that Lewis and Ron don’t have that milk&honey relationship that we’ve seen in 2007-2008. I wonder what caused that distruption in their relationship.
Solo (@solo)
2nd August 2012, 10:46
Milk and honey never existed really. It was a normal relationship. Ron didn’t support his junior year because he loved him but because he thought he had a good potential driver.
It just seemed like milk and honey because Alonso went all crazy against Ron for not giving him Ferrari no.1 treatment and his fans started yelling how Ron loved Lewis and was against Alonso to explain their driver’s not so smart behavior.
Klaas (@klaas)
2nd August 2012, 15:27
Well, Ron Dennis once described his relationship with Lewis as ‘paternal’. Montoya also confirmed in one interview that the relationship between the two is (was) more than boss-employee:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7006353.stm
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd August 2012, 8:55
thanks @f1yankee
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
2nd August 2012, 1:21
When he’s been beaten by Kobayashi? I don’t think so Sergio.
ivz (@ivz)
2nd August 2012, 1:35
Checo has the link to Ferrari, so it makes sense that he is in line to take Massa’s seat. The sooner the better, what has Ferrari got to lose?
ShaneB457 (@shaneb12345678910)
2nd August 2012, 1:44
@craig-o
I hardly think he’s been beaten by Kobayashi. He’s currently ahead of him in the standings and has secured two podium finishes this year. He’s been unlucky in Silverstone, (Maldonado crashing into him) and China (clutch problem). He had the fastest lap in Monaco and most recently finished 6th in Germany. So yeah, I think he’s done amazingly well in a midfield team and has definately got the edge over Kobayashi.
Perez would be a great replacement for Massa at Ferrari. If he was to go to the team next year and they would produce a quick car worthy of winning the WDC, then I think that he would definately be a contender for the title, even with Alonso as his teammate. With the tyres being so crucial this year and most definately next year, he would have the edge over most drivers during the race in my opinion.
vickyy (@vickyy)
2nd August 2012, 7:20
@shaneb12345678910 I think this year’s Sauber is not a midfield car, except Bahrain and Hungary they should have always been in podium contention. Just like Williams their points doesn’t speak of their speed of the car and under-driven the car.
Before Hockenheim, I read rumors about Peter Sauber was unhappy with their inconsistencies.
ShaneB457 (@shaneb12345678910)
2nd August 2012, 8:56
@vicky
But for him to secure two podiums so far this season is pretty solid from him. He could have even won in Malaysia, if it wasnt for his team telling him to stay put. (Yes I know he ran wide at the penultimate corner, but still..)
Hmmmm… I dont know. I think I would have to diasagree with you on the fact that they have been in podium contention for every race bar two. Yes, both Sauber and Williams have really improved their cars but look at how strong McLaren, Red Bull and Lotus are at the moment. Its quite hard to get a step on the podium. Even Mercedes were strong at the start of the year. Look at Maldonado.
Nevertheless.. I just think that he’s done a solid job at Sauber and his ability to conserve his tyres makes up for his poor qualifying.
ShaneB457 (@shaneb12345678910)
2nd August 2012, 9:00
Whoops. Forget the “Look at Maldonado.”
We really need an edit feature :)
matt90 (@matt90)
2nd August 2012, 4:03
I assume you mean last year, when Kobayashi scored the majority of his points in the 2 races which Perez didn’t start, and when one of Perez’s points scores was unfortunately discounted due to Sauber getting themselves disqualified. If you only count the races both finished, and the Australia score that Perez was unfortunate to lose, they scored the same points I believe. Overall Kobayashi was probably better in 2011 regardless, but that was a year when Perez was a rookie, and Kobayashi had a year and a bits worth of experience over him. Kobayashi also scored the majority of his points at the beginning of the season, when that experience was most important as a separating factor. From Perez’s return he was generally as good or better over the remainder of the season.
OOliver
2nd August 2012, 8:23
Both Kobayashi and Perez, lost points after the first race disqualification.
The main reason for the points difference is that Sauber puts both cars on different strategies, more often than not, hoping one of the strategies will be the best one for the race.
matt90 (@matt90)
2nd August 2012, 11:55
But Perez lost more. And as I said, the main reason for the points difference is Perez being out of the races where Kobayashi scored over half his points.
BROOKSY007 (@brooksy007)
2nd August 2012, 1:32
Perez is certainly a star of the future – his drive in malaysia was epic! To think that he almost beat the man of the decade – Alonso!
Apart from his visible talent he appears to be a very level headed young man that doesn’t have an attitude!
If ferrari think he isn’t experienced enough, they should reconsider! What better way to mould a driver into how your team wants to operate than to take someone like perez! Someone very fast, consistent and unlikely to spark contrivercy or team friction!
Since webber is now unavailable, who else is there that isn’t under contract that will be able to fill that seat for years to come!
Where is the downside!! Because unfortunatly massa is costing them money with CC payment!!
Kimi4WDC
2nd August 2012, 2:04
What is the address of your dimension, cause in one I’m living it would be a stretch to call Alonso man of decade :)
I think problem is Ferrari are not as dominant to have a slower second driver to be able to score points. Gap is so narrow being slower than Alonso will put you out of points.
And as you mention there are couple fast young drivers, but they might cause troubles with Ferrari’s policy.
For me Kovalainen looks better and better to fill the gap while Alonso is still in Ferrari, with Perez replacing Alonso later on, if he really does live up to all the hype.
BROOKSY007 (@brooksy007)
2nd August 2012, 5:28
I meant in f1 terms – as a driver! Sorry about that!
I do see your point! Lol
Kimi4WDC
2nd August 2012, 1:55
If Perez have any ambition of becoming World Champion, he will drive the wheel out of that Sauber and wait until Alonso leaves Ferrari to join them. Basically same as when Kimi rejected Ferrari while Schumi was there.
It is possible he will be faster than Alonso, but he is not going to have team support he enjoys at Sauber.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
2nd August 2012, 2:28
Well said, Paul. Well said!
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd August 2012, 9:10
I must say I really like their approach and open minded, fair spoken way of communicating @fer-no65!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
2nd August 2012, 14:30
@bascb me too. I like Hembery. He explains everything and is always very open to debate.
Robbie (@robbie)
2nd August 2012, 20:37
Hmmm…interesting. It wasn’t that long ago that I recall one tire maker, can’t remember if it was Michelin or Bridgestone but it was one of them, saying they WANTED a competitor in F1 so that people talked about the tires that whatever driver is on. When it is one tire maker only, and everyone is on the same tires, the tires don’t normally get a mention, and so the advertising impact to the maker for being in F1 is limited.
I guess the difference is that when one maker is mandated to make the tires, shall we say controversial (read cliffy), to the point where some drivers have complained about being limited by them and they publicly lament that being the case, then the Pirelli name does get enough mention that it is worth them being in F1. If the tires were consistant and didn’t fall off the cliff and give teams grief in trying to figure them out, then I think we would be saying little about the tires and Mr. Hembery might not be so happy about that.
Also, I don’t think a tire war automatically means a reversion back to processional racing. I think there are more ingredients than that to cause processions, the main one being not the tires but the continued over-dependance that F1 cars have on downforce such that in dirty air the cars are still too handicapped, hence DRS. ie. if they greatly capped their downforce, cars would be relatively much less affected in dirty air, and then whether the tires were cliffy or not, there would be more passing and likely without the need for DRS gadgetry making for phoney passes.
So I think I’d rather have two makers making ‘real’ tires (not mandated ones that aren’t as good as we know Pirelli et al can make) so that the drivers aren’t limited by them so much, much less downforce so we can get back to drivers making real passes by the seat of their pants on tires they can have confidence in, while they are less handicapped by dirty air, and with no need for DRS.
verstappen (@verstappen)
2nd August 2012, 21:31
I would love to see 12 tyre manufactors in F1…
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
2nd August 2012, 21:54
@BasCB Me too, it’s like having that 13th team in F1, in a good way!
TED BELL
4th August 2012, 15:23
Pirelli are holding a gun to our heads and saying this is what you get. Thinking that all involved with F1 from the simple fan to the top team are happy with the product you provide is an insult. Maybe having a second tire manufacturer would result in tires that enable the teams to maximise the potential of their cars in race conditions and not produce a crap shoot of a chance on race day if you don’t turn the wick down and force each team to restrict their potential just to survive to the next set of tires that are complete horsecrap. Get out of Formula One Pirelli the quality of the product you bring to the track has made F1 a joke…
Herman (@)
5th August 2012, 10:38
“Pirelli are holding a gun to our heads and saying this is what you get.”
Did you read what Hembery said? He literally said the exact opposite of this!
BasCB (@bascb)
5th August 2012, 15:18
Your comment might make sense if it was not that Pirelli is currently delivering exactly the quality of tyres asked from them by the FIA and as proposed by the teams when they were selected @Ted Bell
And as @herman mentions mr. Hembrey is saying that they will adjust to what tyres the sport asks from them.
TED BELL
5th August 2012, 15:54
I guess I missed the part when the teams said Pirelli build us tires that are so unpredictable that it will take half of the season to understand how they even work and will produce results that few on earth could have ever predicted. Also make them so bad that when they wear out the rubble left over will so litter the track that if you are off line just a bit too much it will end your race day. Tires meant to improve racing have done little to resolve the processionals that many fear will ruin F1. Tires that affect the sport in a negative way are now being recognized as the proper way for the sport. Horsecrap.
Herman (@)
5th August 2012, 23:25
Pirelli were accepted as an F1 tyre supplier with the brief that they produce tyres that have high degradation and that make tyre strategy a part of racing again. This they have done, and therefore they have completed their brief. You may not like the impact Pirelli has had on the sport, and you are entitled to that opinion. But Pirelli have only done what was asked of them by the FIA and whether or not their tyres have improved F1 is actually a side issue.
tl;dr: Pirelli’s tyres are bad for the sport =/= Pirelli didn’t follow their brief from the FIA.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
2nd August 2012, 3:33
I would LOVE to see what he could do in a Ferrari.
Mike (@mike)
2nd August 2012, 14:42
My instant thought was, not much worse than Massa. But we all saw what happened to Fisi… … I hope he does well where ever he goes.
Jono (@me262)
2nd August 2012, 6:14
I think his racecraft is super and the way he can stay out there on crumbling tyres for 35 laps is awesome (even though the strategy dosent always produce a net advantage for him) but I think Checo lacks a bit of raw speed. Statistics should coroborate my thoughts of Kobayashi being the stronger qualifier
MtlRacer (@mtlracer)
2nd August 2012, 6:34
As far as I know, Alesi only threw his helmet into the crowd in Montreal at his last race there, in 2001, when he still drove for Prost and finished fifth. I was at most 15 feet from the lucky guy who caught the helmet and there was no radio equipment, nor did anyone from Ferrari come running.
OOliver
2nd August 2012, 8:28
I too always thought they had earphones that were not part of the helmet.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
2nd August 2012, 13:45
I also recall it being an issue with Alesi at Prost, at the time the team was very low on money and not able to easily replace radio equipment (though I’m not saying the reference to it happening at Montreal is wrong but I don’t recall hearing about that at the time)
Timothy Katz (@timothykatz)
2nd August 2012, 9:13
I read the COTD in the round-up yesterday and had a good snigger. Nice, pithy and regretably accurate.
Mike (@mike)
2nd August 2012, 11:23
I think Maurice answered his own question.
I mean, that can also be said about Lewis.
What Maurice failed to do, is give a convincing argument why Lewis deserves it more than the Mclaren team, all of which contributed, in some small way, to his win. Or why Lewis’ deserves it more than Button, or his pit crew.
Lewis, is a very visible, but ultimate linked component of that team, and if he wants to be the big star with all the attention, then he isn’t going to fit in very well with the team centric Mclaren is he? But I guess it’s always been like that hasn’t it?
N
2nd August 2012, 11:37
“What Maurice failed to do, is give a convincing argument why Lewis deserves it more than the Mclaren team”
Because the teams get a constructor trophy for a reason.
Argument over. :]
Mads (@mads)
2nd August 2012, 13:55
@N
+1!
Mike (@mike)
2nd August 2012, 14:36
Gonna be honest, I think that’s irrelevant.
I think if you enter in that Lewis is only one part of the team, then it is a moot point. Yes it’s awarded to the driver with the most points, but that doesn’t mean it was wholly and only earned by the driver does it? Nor, do I think that it makes him entitled to it by the divine words of beelzebub, as your “argument over” has insinuated.
N
2nd August 2012, 15:53
“I think if you enter in that Lewis is only one part of the team, then it is a moot point. Yes it’s awarded to the driver with the most points, but that doesn’t mean it was wholly and only earned by the driver does it?”
Again, at the end of a race, constructor gets a trophy, drivers gets a trophy. The constructor gets a trophy for their contribution, driver gets one for theirs. This is a non-argument. It’s only Mclaren that take a drivers trophy off the driver.
Mads (@mads)
2nd August 2012, 16:07
@mike
But surely the team needs a driver right?
How dominant would the good old MP4-4 have been if Gordon Murray had to drive it him self?
In the same way that Senna wouldn’t have won the championship on his bare feet.
But isn’t the reason they give two separate trophies, to acknowledge the teams part in a race win, as well as the driver?
I don’t see how the team has so much right to a race win that they can keep both trophies. Like if the driver was absolutely irrelevant in gaining that position.
Mike (@mike)
2nd August 2012, 16:30
@mads
Right…. Anyway…
Has anyone caught on that I’m not arguing that Lewis shouldn’t get it?
I’m arguing that, the tag “driver” doesn’t necessarily mean he earned it to keep alone. The trophies get kept where the whole team resides, not just the team boss, so isn’t there an argument that as the whole team contributed to getting it, that they should share it as a team? I think there is, so I don’t think either party is necessary right.
javlinsharp (@javlinsharp)
2nd August 2012, 16:03
The driver risks life and limb for the adoration of fans, some $, and that bit of tin. Let him have it, whats the big deal really?
LH will leave some day, and be replaced by another driver, but the team lives on, surrounded by the fruits of their labor, the Constructors Trophies. Agreed, the Drivers dont do this alone, but leave something for the guy who was the pointy end of that spear , and who probably starts a boring, sad, much less important life as a “has-been” after F1.