FORMULA 1

[MIKA27]

5 hours ago, Baldy said:

Going to miss Alonso in F1.  One of my favourite drivers. If he does switch to Indycar, I wish him the best though I question is career choice dollar wise.  But I guess, at this stage of his career, money means less than legacy. At least I'll be watching more Indycar.

 

3 hours ago, skalls said:

Will miss Alonso as well.  Be interesting to see how he transitions into IndyCar, my guess is he will do quite well.

Who's not to say Alonso will not return to Formula 1? Might seem unlikely but one never knows?

Clearly he is going for the triple crown, why wouldn't he, at the same time, waiting for McLaren to get their s**t together and give him a decent car to race with.

Either way, a sad day for sure. 

[MIKA27]

INDYCAR: WE HOPE ALONSO DOES THE FULL 2019 SEASON

Fernando Alonso’s decision to quit Formula 1 at the end of this season is official, now the motorsport world anticipates that the double world champion will confirm his participation in Indycar with an effort which McLaren is reportedly working on.

Indycar got a taste of the Alonso charm offensive last May when he thrilled all with his Indianapolis 500 adventure, a move Stateside to campaign Indycar next year would be a huge boost for the series and provide an opportunity for the Spaniard to grow his ‘brand’ in America.

Indycar chief Mark Miles revealed that the wheels are already in motion, “Today’s announcement certainly has fueled excitement among IndyCar fans who hope that Alonso will compete throughout the championship in 2019.”

“McLaren is working to put all the necessary arrangements in place, and we are supporting their efforts. I don’t expect this to be resolved until closer to the end of this year,” added Miles.

Amid suggestions that a new entry for 2019 is too late for McLaren, speculation is they may team up with an existing outfit and run a car out of the same stable for Alonso as they did with Andretti Autosport for last year’s Indy 500 foray.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, winner of the 2014 Indy 500 and a teammate of Alonso’s with Andretti for the one race, said the Spaniard would be welcomed back and would be a great addition to the series.

“It would be appealing to me if I were him,” said Hunter-Reay during a conference call ahead of this weekend’s IndyCar race at Pocono.”

“I spent time with him as his teammate and know he’s as hungry as ever to win. We worked very well together and would welcome him no doubt but I have no idea where this whole thing is going right now.”

“I don’t know where McLaren stands with it… a lot of speculation at the moment but I think he would be a great addition to IndyCar and have a lot of fun here,” added Hunter-Reay.

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BARNARD: I’D LIKE TO KNOW HOW F1 COST-CAP WILL OPERATE

Since the launch of his book “The Perfect Car” legendary McLaren design chief John Barnard has been in the news with some of his observations regarding the sport.

Barnard who designed a host of title-winning cars for the Woking outfit in the eighties – including the above MP4/2 – has now emerged to be outspoken with regards to the plight of his former team which is at the lowest ebb of performance in their illustrious F1 history.

Clearly, his concerns are not only to do with McLaren, the future of F1 in terms of financial governance is a concern of his too.

While Formula 1 stakeholders map a future for the sport Barnard questions the reality of a cost-cap (aka budget-cap) in Formula 1, buzzwords which are high on the negotiations’ agenda for 2021 and beyond.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Barnard said, “These cost caps… I’d like to know how they’re going to operate those. I remember talking about cutting the costs in 1990, 1991, people were talking about what can we do to cut the costs then.”

“And everything that was suggested, you just felt well, if you’re a big team or even a manufacturer, there’s all sorts of ways around this.”

“Development can be done back in the factory on another project, then it’s suddenly shipped over to Formula 1, all these kinds of things. It’s very difficult to control. I will wait with interest to see how they’re going to do that,” warned Barnard

A short Red Bull sourced bio on the man reveals: “Barnard went from making light bulbs to designing a title-winning McLaren in the 1970s and became a true innovator in his F1 career.”

“Teaming up with Ron Dennis at McLaren, he introduced the carbon fibre monocoque and the ‘coke bottle’ rear end in some of the most attractive, innovative and dominant cars of the mid-1980s.”

“He then sandwiched two spells at Ferrari around one at Benetton, where he and Rory Byrne built the basis for Michael Schumacher’s success. He now runs his own automotive design company.”

[MIKA27]

PIRELLI: A TYRE WAR WOULD BE EXPENSIVE FOR F1

Mario Isola warns against introducing another tyre supplier into the Formula 1 mix, the Pirelli chief believes such a move would trigger a ‘tyre war’ which in turn would increase costs, but at the same time he insists that his company is up for a scrap should the need arise.

Isola told ESPN in an interview, “The direction of Formula 1  is still to have one supplier. Obviously what is changing quickly but the single supplier is saving money for everybody.”

“If you introduce, again, what they call the ‘tyre war’ or multiple suppliers you have to consider that in the past it was necessary to have additional test sessions or in the past the teams had a proper tyre test team and obviously this means additional costs.”

“If they want to reduce the cost, this is probably not the right direction,” argued Isola.

Under Liberty Media Formula 1 is seeking to raise the bar on just about everything that is related to the sport which until the end of the Bernie Ecclestone era was living in the dark ages on just about every aspect.

Up until 2006 Michelin and Bridgestone competed at the highest level, with Pirelli becoming the sole supplier in 2011, taking over from Bridgestone who had been the sole supplier from 2007 until the end 2010.

Should the stakeholders allow another tyre supplier, Isola won’t shy away from taking on a competitor in the top flight, “If they decide to come back to this situation as we said in the past, we are ready to face also this new challenge. It is a new challenge because if you’re a sole supplier you have some targets.”

“You supply the same tyres to everybody so you can have a tyre with high degradation, with different targets. If we are in competition with our tyre supplier the target is just performance. It is clear. It’s like for teams.”

“Their target is safety for sure but safety is a target, it’s always there, it’s always a priority but after that it’s just performance,” added Isola and as we all know “performance” comes at an escalating price.

MIKA: A one sided opinion clearly IMO. Pirelli basically don't want the competition, I for one would love to see another supplier on board such as Michelin.

[MIKA27]

Scheckter: Divisive Alonso “overrated” in terms of F1 achievements

One-time Formula 1 World Champion Jody Scheckter believes people have overrated Fernando Alonso and says his divisive nature is “not the way to win world championships”.
Alonso revealed on Tuesday that he will leave F1 at the end of the year but stopped short of calling it a retirement from grand prix racing. 

The 2005 and 2006 champion, who has won 32 grands prix, was labelled a “legend” and an “F1 great” by his team boss Zak Brown in McLaren’s announcement of Alonso’s decision. 

However, 1979 champion Scheckter told BBC Radio 5Live: “I like to just think how many championships somebody’s won.

“You can rate people that they had bad luck and bad cars. I think people overrate him. One of his problems is he seems to upset teams and everybody around him. That’s not the way to win world championships. 

“You’ve got to work with your team and you’re nearly a leader [as a driver].”

After the news broke, Felipe Massa tweeted that Alonso, his former Ferrari team-mate, was one of the best drivers on the planet, just days after he told Brazilian TV that he rated Alonso level with seven-time Michael Schumacher on talent. 

However, in the same interview he said Alonso would end up “splitting the team in half” and “could have achieved much more” without this. 

Scheckter referenced Massa’s Schumacher comparison when speaking to the BBC and said: “For me, absolutely not. 

“Schumacher has got to be rated as the best driver ever. Alonso I don’t think he’s in that category.

“[That’s] not to say he’s not a good driver. He’s one of the top drivers there now.”

Ex-F1 driver and Sky pundit Martin Brundle also referenced Alonso’s divisive nature in a tweet posted in the aftermath of the announcement. 

“I’ll miss Fernando’s fiery character and relentless speed,” said Brundle. “Unfulfilled potential yet still huge achievements in F1. 

“Needed somebody stronger than him around to control the destructive moments which prevented him being first choice for any team, but not sure such a person exists.”

F1 peers more positive

Several of Alonso’s current rivals took to Twitter to pay tribute to his F1 career.

Renault driver Carlos Sainz Jr, a contender to replace Alonso at McLaren and a long-time fan of his countryman, tweeted: “We are gonna we miss you a lot @alo_oficial! 

“My passion for this sport started thanks to you and I consider myself a very lucky guy to have shared four years of F1 racing with one of the best ever.” 

Sergio Perez called it “a pleasure” to race with him, while Alonso’s former Renault team-mate Romain Grosjean said: “It has been a privilege and an honour being your friend, your team-mate and racing against you in F1.”

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Sauber boss not fussed over final championship position

Sauber Team Principal Frederic Vasseur says it is “not a huge difference” where the outfit finishes in this year’s standings, emphasising its opportunity for 2019.

Sauber returned to the midfield pack this year after several seasons of struggle and has scored 18 points to hold ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.

It has a 14-point buffer over Williams and is within 10 points of nearest rival Toro Rosso, which moved clear in Hungary courtesy of a strong result for Pierre Gasly.

Vasseur, though, says Sauber’s biggest ambition should be to profit from the tweaked aerodynamic regulations that are to be introduced for 2019.

“If all the other teams are continuing to push and develop it will be more and more difficult [to score points] but we know also that the big gain for us will be more next year than this year,” said Vasseur. 

“Honestly [if] we finish the championship eighth, ninth or seventh, it’s not a huge difference.  

“There’s a huge change to the regulation next year, we have a great opportunity and we have to consider this as a real challenge.”

Vasseur also stressed that Sauber must continue to be self-critical and concentrate on its own trajectory rather than become distracted by the situation of other teams.

“The most important thing first when you are coming from the back is to be focused on yourself,” he said.

“We have a lot to do, we know more or less what we have to do and the most important thing is to focused on ourselves. On improving our weaknesses and to do it step-by-step. 

“I will not focus on Williams, I will not focus on Toro Rosso, and I think step-by-step we have to deliver to fight with someone. It would be a huge mistake [to focus on others].”

[LLC]

Who's not to say Alonso will not return to Formula 1? Might seem unlikely but one never knows?
Clearly he is going for the triple crown, why wouldn't he, at the same time, waiting for McLaren to get their s**t together and give him a decent car to race with.
Either way, a sad day for sure. 

Makes sense and even he said he’d like to go back if they get back to top form. Maybe a couple of years away gives him a chance to achieve his other racing goals and gives McLaren time to turn things around. Won’t be easy but who knows ...


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[MIKA27]

Ferrari special: How its greatest losses led to a new era

From F1 Racing & Motorsport PRIME: Some said that romance in motor racing died with Ferrari darling Gilles Villeneuve in 1982. Six years later, Enzo himself was gone. On the 30th anniversary of that day, this is how Ferrari's legend only grew stronger in adversity.
One fatal misjudgement. That's all it took to jolt the trajectory of Formula 1 history during the super-power 1980s.

Had Gilles Villeneuve backed off and missed the rear of Jochen Mass's cruising March at Zolder in May 1982, who knows what glories would have abounded?

But even had he lived and won the world title that should have been well within his reach during that tumultuous season, Ferrari might still have missed the full benefits. Villeneuve was imbued with the mysticism of Enzo's magical Scuderia and, 36 years after his violent death, still remains the ultimate embodiment of what a Ferrari F1 driver should be.

And yet even he, despite the competitiveness of his 126C that year and the loved-like-a-son bond with the Old Man, was growing tired of the politics that poisoned Maranello.

Ron Dennis, building a formidable new empire at McLaren, wanted Villeneuve - and the consensus is, for 1983, he would have got him. Alain Prost? His destiny would probably still have carried a white-and-Dayglo hue - but with his friend Villeneuve still around, the timeline of his wondrous era might have shifted a year or three (and as a consequence, the same goes for Ayrton Senna's...).

It's easy to lose oneself in the intrigues of conjecture. But the harsh reality was the brilliance of the French Canadian's burning light blew out that day in May - and the ensuing darkness foreshadowed a gloom that would be hard to escape.

Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari 312T4, corrects a slide as he puts a wheel on the curb.

On the back of a disastrous 1980, in which defending champion Jody Scheckter and Villeneuve amassed a miserly eight points between them, Ferrari finally embraced the turbo revolution for '81, as Dr Harvey Postlethwaite added some Anglo-Saxon salt to Mauro Forghieri's Latin brew.

The hefty, slab-like 126CK was no beauty, but still Villeneuve worked wonders. His two victories that year, at Monaco and Jarama, were markers of his increasing maturity that belied the lazy 'wild man' stereotype detractors rolled out before and since the three-wheeling madness of Zandvoort 1979.

Despite a trying start to 1982, Villeneuve knew that this time Forghieri and Postlethwaite had given him a ride worthy of his talents. But his new problem was the guy in the other one. He and Pironi were close, but after struggling to manhandle the 126CK, the fast Frenchman was now a serious threat. And at Imola, their friendship ended.

Pironi's "betrayal", his apparent refusal to honour a pre-race team orders agreement, would forever cloud his reputation - particularly in the circumstances of the horror that would soon unfold. Villeneuve's fury and expression of cold disgust on the chaotic podium would carry over into the following race weekend: Zolder.

Didier Pironi and Gilles Villeneuve in the pit garage together

What was Villeneuve's state of mind when he blasted out of the pits for that fateful qualifying run on the Saturday afternoon? Its storm had certainly not been quelled by the public silence from Ferrari. Marco Piccinini, the arch politician now at the helm, refused to condemn Pironi for his actions, further stoking Villeneuve's ire – and inflaming the conjecture that Gilles would have walked at season's end, champion or not.

As it was, Pironi's supposed part in Villeneuve's death would hang as heavy as the thick mist of rain in Hockenheim's trees that would lead to Pironi's own downfall later that summer. Unsighted, he was launched over Prost's Renault and into an accident that demolished his legs. His death five years later, while racing a powerboat off the Isle of Wight, offered a devastating coda to a tragic tale that carried echoes of Ferrari's 1950s horrors.

Like some who lived through Jim Clark's era, there are those who say their love for F1 was forever tarnished once Villeneuve was gone. The same has been said of Enzo Ferrari himself.

Now in his eighties and in ill health, the Old Man was less able or inclined to manage the Machiavellian swirl around Maranello. The Fiat vultures were circling their prized asset, by this time the most famous and celebrated automotive brand in the world. But the F1 team, the heart of the precious jewel, was corroding from within.

Rene Arnoux, Ferrari

Back-to-back constructors' titles in 1982 and '83 hardly shrieked crisis, but much like Manchester United's pair of FA Cup successes in football's corresponding era, they were a diversion from what really mattered. Both were out of step with their time, with no hope of competing for the prize that counted: in United's case the English First Division; in Ferrari's the search for a successor to Scheckter's increasingly distant title.

Little Rene Arnoux gave it a decent shot in 1983, but his natural flair could never quite be harnessed with the consistency required to match Nelson Piquet and Prost. Then in '84 he and team-mate Patrick Tambay failed to win a race as Ferrari's fourth-generation 126C lost Ferrari's mojo. Forghieri, for the third and final time in his life, paid the price: he was appointed director of something called the 'advanced research office'... The bespectacled legend would finally quit the company in May 1987.

Maranello 1987, Enzo Ferrari, bernie Ecclestone and jean Marie Balestre on the day of renewal of the Concorde agreement.

Michele Alboreto offered brief hope and the tantalising promise of a first Italian drivers' champion since Alberto Ascari. But despite leading the points after victory in Montreal in the attractive 156/85, his challenge wilted in the face of a Dayglo onslaught. This was the bigger picture that Ferrari's pollution of politicians kept missing - even though Dennis was effectively smearing it into their faces.

His empirical ambitions at McLaren had born wondrous fruit. In partnership with design genius John Barnard, Dennis had recognised where investment was required to nurture an F1 superpower. McLaren led the way in pioneering the use of materials such as carbon fibre, and built a lithe business structure that ensured strength in depth.

For all McLaren's further success, this was the apex of Dennis's contribution to F1 history. He set the template - the pristine, OCD, quest-for-perfection standard - of what a proper grand prix team now had to be. But in the mid-1980s, when first Niki Lauda and then emphatically a game-changing Prost reaped the dividends, Ferrari was too busy tearing itself apart to notice.

Modena 1986, Enzo Ferrari, Michele Alboreto, Ferrari with his wife Nadia. 

Instead of investing Fiat wedge into future technologies and a modern team structure, it was led by a reactive instinct for a short-term solution: hire Barnard. The offer was clearly too good to resist - but when the Englishman succumbed, he only did so on his own terms. And he refused to leave his homeland.

Determined to avoid the distractions of the invidious Maranello life, Barnard set up the suitably named GTO (Guildford Technical Office - slightly more prosaic beyond the acronym), in the belief that he could knuckle down to sculpting a new generation of F1 car in peace.

Barnard's first impressions of his new employer came as a shock. While Ferrari, as ever, prided itself on engines, chassis facilities were way behind what he'd been used to at McLaren. With the company's first windtunnel only just coming into commission, Barnard must have winced at the full realisation of his task.

Formula 1 designer John Barnard at the Ferrari design and development company in Guildford.

While he began work on a new car for 1988, his input on the evolved F1/87 bore some fruit. Gerhard Berger won the final rounds of '87 in Japan and Australia, thwarting a worrying win-less streak that had stretched for more than two years. But still the pressure on Barnard was building, especially when it emerged his new baby wouldn't be ready for the following season.

F1 was preparing itself to consign turbos to history (for now!) in favour of a return to atmospheric engines. McLaren and new engine partner Honda were confident of hitting the ground running with a potent V10 for 1989, but in the meantime would give the manufacturer's powerful V6 turbo one final hurrah. And what a hurrah it was: 15 out of 16 victories for Prost and new team-mate Senna, a near-whitewash.

As bad as it was for Ferrari, it could have been worse - especially if Barnard had pushed through his revolutionary new car. The inevitable teething problems might have spelled a rapid end to his Ferrari career, especially now his champion Enzo was no longer around...

Enzo Ferrari 1898-1988

Yes, the Old Man was gone, finally proving mortal at the age of 90 on August 14, 1988. Without its founder, Ferrari would never – could never – be the same.

At Monza, 28 days after Enzo's passing, Berger and Alboreto delivered an unlikely Ferrari one-two after Senna tripped over Jean-Louis Schlesser - blotting McLaren's perfect season and delivering a fairy-tale tribute.

Only Ferrari.

Gerhard Berger, Ferrari F187/88C

Meanwhile, Barnard faced the machinations from factions within Fiat, who now held the Prancing Horse's reins in the tightest of grips.

The new 'atmo' era dawned in 1989 with the promise of more McLaren domination. Meanwhile at Ferrari, Barnard's striking new F640 was failing to complete a race distance in testing. New recruit Nigel Mansell, one of the Old Man's final contributions, appeared to have little to hope for at the Rio season opener.

But then, unbelievably, he won, as if it was pre-ordained. Barnard's revolution, led by a hydraulically operated paddle-shift semi-automatic gearbox, had even survived a mid-race steering wheel change. Again, only Ferrari.

Nigel Mansell, Ferrari 640

But Mansell subsequently failed to finish the next four races, while teammate Berger escaped a fiery horror-crash at Imola with relatively minor burns. In Maranello, rumours whispered of a breakaway design faction, with the backing of Piero Lardi Ferrari (Enzo's illegitimate son).

Meanwhile, Barnard fumed that his clever gearbox took the brunt of blame for the DNFs, when the truth lay in the externally supplied electronics systems. Mansell would cement his heroic Il Leone status with a magnificent charge (and defeat of Senna) in Hungary, and Berger would win in Portugal, but Ferrari remained resolutely in McLaren's shadow.

Then came Prost and the full realisation of Barnard's vision, complete with sorted electrics. Except Barnard wasn't there to conduct it. Benetton had come calling with a "fairly impressive" offer and, worn down by the politics, he jumped at it.

Prost came in as reigning champion after beating Senna to the 1989 title. But success had come at a heavy price. After two seasons of increasing bitterness in the same team, pragmatic Prost had come to the only logical conclusion: while he was equal to Senna in most respects, he couldn't quite match the Brazilian for out-and-out pace. To beat him again, he would have to do something different .

Alain Prost Ferrari 641

In the 641 Prost won five times to Mansell's single victory, driving Il Leone to distraction and eventually out of the team. More importantly, he pushed Senna all the way to another Suzuka title showdown, which his enemy concluded with the most reprehensible piece of driving in F1 history.

Had Senna not driven into Prost at the first turn at 150mph, and Prost had won the championship, how would the story of 1991 have played out? In truth, with Barnard gone, Fiat's suits still rife in Maranello and no solutions in place to solve the age-old problems, the story would probably have been the same.

By the end of that season, a disillusioned Prost had been sacked, remarks comparing his revised 641 to a "truck" allowing Fiat to use him as a scapegoat. But dazzling, perfectly groomed - and familiar - hope had wafted over the horizon.

Fresh from masterminding a successful Italia '90 football World Cup, suave Luca Cordero di Montezemolo received a call from his old mentor Gianni Agnelli at Fiat: come and sort our troublesome Ferrari. And not just the F1 team, as he had way back in '75: this time he was chairman and president of the whole shebang.

Niki Lauda and Luca Di Montezemolo

To tackle F1, he called on old friend Lauda for advice and hired back Barnard after what had turned out to be two unhappy years at Benetton. The fix would not be immediate, an overly ambitious twin-floor chassis and disastrous active suspension ensuring further nightmares in 1992. But for clear-of-mind Montezemolo, the penny had dropped: Dennis had shown the way years earlier.

No 'silver bullets' this time. A new and lasting approach was required, and if he was to rejuvenate Ferrari's underperforming road cars too, he needed help to lead it.

The call he made – arguably the most important and decisive in Ferrari's history - was to a steely-eyed Frenchman, with no direct experience of F1. Jean Todt had single-mindedly nurtured Peugeot into a winner on the rally stage and then at Le Mans. But this was something else.

Did Todt really have the chops to lead the biggest name of them all, on the greatest and most demanding stage? Ferrari's F1 future was counting on it...

John Barnard, Ferrari with jean Todt

[avaldes]

IMO McLaren is going to be hurting next season. Without an experienced driver, they are going to have a very hard time making development progress. I can't imagine who is going to dig into the problems of their car and sort it out. I think they are still better off than Williams, but they are right on the precipice of falling into that hole too.

I also think Alonso will do well in IndyCar, just like other F1 world champions. Those cars and drivers just aren't at the same level as F1.

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4 minutes ago, avaldes said:

IMO McLaren is going to be hurting next season. Without an experienced driver, they are going to have a very hard time making development progress. I can't imagine who is going to dig into the problems of their car and sort it out. I think they are still better off than Williams, but they are right on the precipice of falling into that hole too.

I also think Alonso will do well in IndyCar, just like other F1 world champions. Those cars and drivers just aren't at the same level as F1.

Agree about the Williams concern. Look at how mighty Williams once were and now where are they? Surely one would assume McLaren have taken notice of the way Williams are venturing these days and don't want to head down that slope...but then again, they have been the past few years. Should they pair Stoffel Vandoorne with Lando, I feel this will eventuate irrespective of how highly praised Lando Norris is, let's not forget, McLaren had the same high praises over Vandoorne not so long ago. 

My thoughts about Alonso is that he is going for the triple crown with the hope in a year or two, McLaren have a better car for him to return to. Just a gut feeling.

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Williams: Tough to judge 2019 aero targets

The overhaul of Formula 1's front wing rules for next season makes it tough for teams to judge aerodynamic targets for their 2019 cars, according to Williams chief Paddy Lowe.
Williams, Force India and Red Bull provided a first on-track glimpse at the new wings during the post-Hungarian Grand Prix test at the Hungaroring.

The new device, which is 200mm wider and 25mm deeper and features less complicated endplates and wing elements, is designed to improve overtaking.

Asked by Motorsport.com how tough it was to have a realistic objective for its development of the wings before that test, Lowe said: "It's a very good question and one that's often brought up.

"Something that teams have said in the past is we'll get back to where we were, but that feels completely arbitrary in itself.

"You try to pick a sensible level based on where you start.

"How accurate is that, and what difference does it make anyway, are two questions I don't really have answers for."

The front wing change is similar to the one introduced in 2009, and Lowe said it was "in that bracket" but "not quite as significant".

Lowe was in charge of the McLaren technical team when it misjudged the downforce levels for the '09 rules overhaul and missed the double-diffuser trick that set Brawn on its way to a double title success.

"I'm sure a lot of stuff will have to be re-optimised," Lowe said of the extent of the impact of the 2019 change.

"We haven't got that far with it, we're starting from the front at the moment and working our way back!"

Lowe said that aesthetically making the wings wider is "the same mistake" as 2009.

However, he is aware that it also presents a chance for Williams to hit back immediately after its flawed FW41 has proven to be the worst car on the 2018 grid.

"It is quite a big change, so change is always an opportunity to do well," said Lowe.

"We're very conscious of that and working very hard to be the right side of that opportunity and make some ground. It could be a disruption."

Gary Anderson's view

When there is any change to the technical regulations with a big impact on aerodynamics, it is always difficult to know what compromises you need to make to optimise the car.

Setting the downforce levels, and hence the efficiency levels, is not an easy task.

But they are never set in stone, you just have to go through the changes one-by-one and see what harm they have done and in what areas.

After that, you will get a reasonable idea of where you can recover that lost downforce.

From what I have seen so far, I wouldn't expect there to be too much of a loss by the start of the season.

As normal, some smartarse will get it right with some sort of widget and the others will very quickly follow suit.

You never stand up and say, 'Well, we have achieved our specification with two months to go let's all go on holiday'. If you have, then your objectives are far too conservative.

The deadline is when you must start manufacturing components you'll have for the initial running.

 

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Alonso suggests he could return to F1 after 2019

Fernando Alonso says he could return to Formula 1 after 2019 and has indicated his absence from the grid may only be temporary if McLaren's form improves.
The two-time world champion revealed on Tuesday that he will not be racing in F1 next season, but stopped short of declaring it a retirement.

He paid tribute to McLaren, who he rejoined in 2015 but has failed to compete for a podium due to a dismal three-year spell with Honda and McLaren's own struggles this year since switching to Renault.

Alonso suggested a McLaren revival could facilitate a return to F1.

"My heart is with the team forever," said Alonso. "I know they will come back stronger and better in the future and it could be the right moment for me to be back in the series; that would make me really happy.

"I have built so many great relationships with many fantastic people at McLaren, and they have given me the opportunity to broaden my horizons and race in other categories. I feel I am a more complete driver now than ever."

Alonso currently contesting the FIA World Endurance Championship superseason, which will run into 2019, and is expected to add an IndyCar programme to that.

He made his Indianapolis 500 debut last year and the famous race is all he has left to win to clinch motorsport's unofficial triple crown, having claimed victory on his Le Mans 24 Hours debut with Toyota this year.

Alonso has not communicated his 2019 plans, but said he made the call to stop racing in F1 earlier this year.

"I made this decision some months ago and it was a firm one," he said.

"Nevertheless, I would like to sincerely thank Chase Carey and Liberty Media for the efforts made to change my mind and everyone who has contacted me during this time.

"Finally, I would also like to thank my former teams, teammates, competitors, colleagues, partners, journalists and everyone I have worked with in my F1 career.

"And, especially, my fans all over the world. I am quite sure our paths will cross again in the future."

Alonso's departure from McLaren confirms that both seats are up for grabs at the British team next year.

Stoffel Vandoorne has yet to earn a contract extension, while reserve driver Lando Norris has admitted he may benefit more from a year of free-practice running before graduating to F1 in 2020.

Motorsport.com understands that Carlos Sainz is a serious option to McLaren, so long as Red Bull does not call him up to replace Daniel Ricciardo before its option on the Spaniard expires next month.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown said that the team's "open dialogue with Fernando has meant we could plan for this eventuality" but made no mention of who features in that plan.

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Haas driver Grosjean's F1 struggles like poor Djokovic tennis form

Romain Grosjean has compared his struggles during the 2018 Formula 1 season to 13-time tennis grand slam winner Novak Djokovic's run of poor form prior to his recent Wimbledon success.

Grosjean suffered a tumultuous start to 2018, failing to score a point in the first eight races, but has climbed from 19th in the drivers' standings to 14th with three top 10 finishes in the last four grands prix before the summer break.

His team-mate Kevin Magnussen has scored 45 points across the season with what is the strongest car Haas has produced in its first three years in F1.

Grosjean said his dip in form is no different to former world tennis number one Djokovic slipping to 21st in the ATP world rankings, before returning to the top 10 and winning Wimbledon in July - his first grand slam success in two years.

"It's been tough," Grosjean told Autosport.

"I think it's just getting yourself back to where you believe you belong and what you know to do and there are various reasons in life where sometimes you are going through a tougher patch.

"Look at Djokovic, he's number one in the world and then two years completely off and now he's won Wimbledon again, it's great to see.

"And he hasn't lost his tennis [ability], he hasn't lost his fitness, he was just different. Sometimes you are.

"I have had some bad luck, some bad moments and then some more bad luck, and it was just hard to get back."

In the first eight races, Grosjean lost several potential points hauls to accidents.

In Baku, he was sixth behind the safety car when he lost control while heating his tyres and hit a wall.

At the start of the next race in Spain he spun on the opening lap at the Turn 3 long right-hander and collected two cars in the process.

A first-lap clash with Magnussen compromised both drivers' races in Britain a few races later, as did a move on Esteban Ocon at the start of the French GP.

Misfortune outside of his control has also cost Grosjean, particularly an unsafe release that cost him a potential fourth place finish in Australia (pictured above) and an engine problem at the start of qualifying in Canada.

"This year didn't start well and didn't go well after that and I did struggle to recover my form," he said. "But, it was just that it was a lot together.

"Sometimes things don't go your way, sometimes the feeling is not what it should be.

"Sometimes you just need to put yourself back together and get back to it."

Grosjean said his rise from 12th to sixth in the closing stages of the German GP was a good example.

"I hope I'm back to where I know what to do and if that is the case then things are just going to come my way, as they did in Hockenheim," he said.

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Lewis Hamilton will be 'different athlete' for 2019 F1 weight rules

Lewis Hamilton believes he will be "a different athlete" in the 2019 Formula 1 season as revised driver weight rules will allow him to be slightly heavier.

Next season F1 will introduced a minimum weight for drivers, expected to be 80kg, instead of incorporating the driver into the total weight limit of the car.

This will reduce the disadvantage faced by taller and heavier competitors as well as the need to have an aggressive diet to save weight.

Hamilton switched to a plant-based diet last year and said his run to a fourth world title was partially down to that decision.

He is now likely to use the new weight rules to bulk up and said he is excited by the prospect of being able change his training programme towards the end of this year.

"I should be a different athlete next year, I'm excited about that," said Hamilton.

To bring lighter drivers up to the new weight limit, teams will need to place ballast adjacent to the driver's seat.

Teams with lighter drivers currently have the freedom to place ballast lower in the car, which aids its centre-of-gravity and improves the balance.

That means the further a driver is from the new limit, the more ballast needs adding higher in the car.

"I don't see my healthy eating changing, I just generally like to eat well," added Hamilton.

"My comfortable weight is a little bit heavier than where I am, and every year all the drivers, particularly I guess the slightly taller ones, they're under more pressure to get thinner and skinnier and unhealthy.

"The rule is changing, which I think is cool. I'm excited to go and eat, increase my intake, I can be a little bit heavier next year, I can be a lot stronger.

"I still want to be quick and sharp and responsive, often if you're big and bulky, it doesn't mean that you're quicker.

"And weight up above is a higher centre of gravity, which I don't want to increase."

Hamilton had called himself "a little chubby for my liking" on Instagram while using his social media account to document a training push between the German and Hungarian Grands Prix.

He said that was a result of him "trying to be a bit more open" and was an example of everybody feeling self-conscious.

"What I think it demonstrates is that, particularly on social media and that is a problem the world has, we all see people in the limelight looking a certain way," he said.

"Because they have got a filter on, you don't get a true representation or feeling of who that person is.

"I wake up sometimes and definitely have my insecurities. I have a six-pack but it's not as good as I like.

"There are certain things I have insecurities about, just like I'm sure every single person here would have insecurities, as do all those people that you might see on social media that look perfect."

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The ground-breaking Brabham BT52

Thirty-five years ago Nelson Piquet became the first turbo-powered world champion, driving Gordon Murray’s beautiful BMW-engined Brabham BT52. 

The BT52 has gone down in history as one of the most original and iconic of all F1 cars. But its simple dart-like contours – with the radiators sited well behind the cockpit, giving a pencil-thin front and a fanned-out rear – came as Murray’s practical response to an 11th hour regulation change.

As a result of massively increased cornering speeds and G-forces, the sport’s governing body was intent on banning ground-effect cars for 1983 - but even into the 1982 off-season the British teams were fighting this. Brabham’s owner Bernie Ecclestone was leading this resistance and had confidently told Murray to design a ground-effect machine for ’83. This was almost complete when the bombshell came from the FIA in November that flat-bottom cars were to be regulated in from the start of ’83. So the ground-effect BT51 was shelved and in the space of just six weeks, the totally new BT52 was conceived and built. The first race was at Rio, Brazil on March 13th – and Piquet won.

Nelson Piquet won the 1983 drivers' title in the BT52 - a car conceived and built in a scarcely believable six weeks. Note the ultra short sidepods, with the radiators pushed as far back as possible to put more weight over the rear axle and improve traction. 

Because the flat bottom regulations outlawed the venturi sections of the floor beneath the sidepods that had featured on all F1 cars for several years (following the original innovation of the Lotus 78 in 1977) and banned the nylon side skirts that had sealed the under-floors to give negative pressure, downforce was drastically reduced.

Murray reasoned the downforce reduction would have an adverse effect on traction – particularly important with a turbocharged BMW motor that could approach 1,000bhp in qualifying trim. Accordingly, he sought to put as much of the car’s weight as possible on the rear axle. Because the sidepod venturis had been banished, the sidepods were no longer needed, and so Murray moved the radiators as far back as possible. He also extended that axle line much further back (giving the car the longest wheelbase of all the ’83 contenders) so as to give a flatter deck to better feed the rear wing.

To make the car simple to work on and rebuild, designer Gordon Murray conceived the BT52 in a modular fashion. 

The new car also had to incorporate the mid-race refuelling concept Murray had re-introduced to F1 in 1982. Hence it had a less than full-size tank, with a pressurised nozzle system that allowed the fuel to be fed in at up to 5-bar of pressure. In this way, over 30 gallons could be delivered in around 3s. Having introduced this system mid-way through ’82, Murray was certain all the other teams would have copied the idea for their ’83 cars. “I was amazed when we got to Rio and realised that everyone still had these full tank cars,” recalled Murray years later. The smaller tank allowed the car to be packaged better – and created the space that better facilitated the lower engine cover ahead of the rear wing, a crucial part of its aero performance.

Because Brabham was such a small team, Murray paid particular attention to how quickly engine, gearbox and suspension changes could be made. The immensely powerful ‘grenade’ engines used for high-boost qualifying were typically junked afterwards and multiple engine changes per weekend were the norm. Murray created a modular system that was subsequently widely copied. The whole rear end – engine, radiators, intercoolers, transmission, suspension – could be built-up off the car as a single self-contained unit, with liquids all sealed, and then simply bolted into place as required.

At the front, the suspension fed into a single-piece magnesium casting that likewise could be bolted on or off. Spring/damper units were held in place by a pin on the rocker that could be pulled back and released to allow a spring change to be made in a matter of seconds. 

The BT52 featured a unique arrow-shaped front wing. In contrast to other cars on the grid, including Renault's championship challenging RE40, the driver wasn't flanked by sidepods.

The modular aspect of the car’s design and construction can be properly appreciated in the drawing further up the page, showing how the entire rear end bolts onto the bulkhead behind the cockpit. This bulkhead was formed from aluminium, as was the lower part of the chassis, with the upper part in carbon fibre, with aluminium body panels.

Although Murray had been incorporating carbon fibre in his cars’ constructions for four years by this point, he was still reluctant to follow McLaren’s 1981 lead of an all-carbon fibre chassis, given the facilities at his disposal. The underbody diffuser sections (allowed aft of the rear axle) slotted in beneath the gearbox.

“Aerodynamically, it was probably the least adjustable car of all time,” recalls Murray. “We just had front wing flap adjustment to balance it out.”

Brabham's principle rivals in 1983 couldn't have produced more different looking machines.

...Ferrari's 126 C2B was lean and muscular..

    ...while Renault RE40, raced by Piquet's main rival Alain Prost, was decidedly chunky.

However, the BT52 proved well balanced and powerful enough for a vivacious Piquet to win three of the 15 races, surrendering a fourth victory in the final round at Kyalami to team mate Riccardo Patrese as he clinched the championship from beneath the noses of Renault and Alain Prost.

And you could argue there hasn't been a more beautiful title-winning car since... 

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Improving Haas attracting more interest from drivers – Steiner

Who will lead Haas’ charge next season? Not only is it a popular topic of paddock conversation, it is also a question plenty of interested drivers have been asking, according to Team Principal Guenther Steiner. However, he has remained tight-lipped on his 2019 line-up…

The American team are enjoying an impressive third season in Formula 1, notching up their best ever result in Austria, and they are currently Renault’s closest challengers in the race for fourth in the constructors’ standings.

Kevin Magnussen has been the standout performer for them, delivering seven points-scoring finishes, and it is expected that he will remain with the team next season. However Romain Grosjean’s mixed performances – with just three top-ten finishes - has led to doubts over his future with Haas.

Steiner maintained his stance that Haas will decide on their partnership following the summer break, but he did reveal that their progression this year has seen them attract plenty of interest.

“I wouldn’t say we are shopping around. You know, a lot of people are shopping with us, put it that way,” he said, speaking during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

“There are people asking for obvious reasons and they want to see what we are doing and if somebody is asking that doesn’t mean they want to come, in my opinion, they might just be asking to see what other people are doing.

“We will decide after the holiday what we are going to do but at the moment we don’t think about it. There are a lot of people asking and it is part of my job to know what is happening in the market place.

“Yeah (there is more interest), but I have a good relationship with a lot of these guys anyway. I’ve got relationships with people and you just talk and they ask what is going on here and I give them the same answer.”

Midfield rivals Renault recently confirmed the surprise arrival of Daniel Ricciardo to partner Nico Hulkenberg next year, meaning Spanish driver Carlos Sainz is now available. Steiner, however, did not comment on which drivers have shown interest.

He added: “It’s all ‘potentially’ and I don’t know where they are. For sure, they go round and say I’m potentially on the market but it doesn’t make it a fact.

"At the moment it’s more gossip, because nobody has pulled the trigger yet on anybody. Everyone is looking everywhere but no one has decided what to do, so somebody has to make the first move.”

Haas are currently fifth in the standings, trailing Renault by 16 points. They’ll have the chance to close that gap when F1 returns to action at the Belgian Grand Prix on August 24-26.

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Mika Salo on missing out on that GP victory in Germany

By rights, Mika Salo should have gone back to Hockenheim recently not just as the FIA’s driver steward but as the winner of the 1999 German Grand Prix. That was the closest he ever came to winning in F1, and when he quit the sport in 2002, he did so without tasting a triumph. So what happened that day? Famed F1 journalist David Tremayne sat down with him to relive the race...

Today, Mika Salo is remembered more as the man who handed that win to his Ferrari team mate Eddie Irvine, but a fairer memory of the likable Finn is the battle he had with two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen in their Formula 3 days back in 1990.

In his Alan Docking Racing Ralt-Mugen, he led Hakkinen’s similar West Surrey Racing version until mid-season, when he spun while leading at Snetterton. Hakkinen eventually took the title after setting 11 poles, 10 fastest laps and nine wins. But with four poles, six fastest laps and six wins, Salo kept him honest throughout and finished a valiant runner-up.

"I had a really good start and I was second after the first corner," Mika Salo on Germany 1999

That was why it was so apposite that it should be the two Finns fighting for that victory at Hockenheim in 1999, with Salo finally getting an F1 car worthy of his talents. But, first, let’s examine the circumstances leading up to that battle.

They unravelled two races earlier at Silverstone when Michael Schumacher, not knowing that the race had been red flagged as Alex Zanardi’s Lotus and Jacques Villeneuve’s BAR were left stalled on the start line, was still fighting his way past Irvine and had just done so when he crashed heavily at Stowe. The German’s Ferrari was destroyed and he broke his right leg.

Salo had already stood in at three 1999 races for the injured Ricardo Zonta at BAR, with a best result of seventh at Imola. He was thus the perfect choice when Ferrari suddenly needed a replacement for Schumacher, and qualified seventh on his debut in Austria. He got caught up in the aftermath of pole-sitter Hakkinen’s first-lap clash with team mate David Coulthard, collided with Johnny Herbert’s Stewart, and had to fight back up to ninth.

Hockenheim went much better next time out, however. Hakkinen once again took pole position, from Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s Jordan and Coulthard’s McLaren. Salo was fourth, a couple of tenths faster than Irvine’s sister F399.

“I qualified well,” he recalls. “But, really, I knew already, before I drove even one metre, that the kind of situation which arose would be coming, so that I would have to do what I had to do. I was there just to help Eddie and the team to win the drivers’ and constructors’ world championships.

“But I had a really good start and I was second after the first corner. And Mika and I were just straight away pulling away from everybody else. It was like our old Formula 3 days.”

Hakkinen led the first 24 laps then pitted for fuel and fresh tyres. Salo had pitted a lap earlier, and when Hakkinen’s fuel rig malfunctioned, the Ferrari stand-in found himself leading a Grand Prix for the first time by the 25th lap. But it did not last.

"I was there to help Eddie and the team win the world championships" Mika Salo

“I’d passed Mika in the pits, and was ahead of him when his tyre blew up on lap 25 and he crashed. So I was leading and was completely alone. But even before Mika crashed that lap, I had a little call from the pits…”

It came from Ferrari’s Ross Brawn, asking him to let Irvine pass.

“I’d seen from my mirrors on the main straight that there’s a red car behind me, but really far away, but then it didn’t take long before I heard Ross Brawn’s calm voice asking me to slow down. It still p****d me off. They said, ‘Not very fast this lap, Mika.’ I went, ‘s**t!’

“And then after Eddie went by he was driving so slow, I had to keep telling the team all the time if they can get him to go faster, because Frentzen was getting very close to me. I kept telling them can you tell Eddie to go faster because I’m stuck behind him now. Then he did speed up a little bit…”

In the end, Irvine led Salo over the finish line in a Ferrari 1-2 by 1.007s, with Frentzen’s Jordan five seconds further back. And the Ulsterman, embarrassed by the circumstances of his victory, handed his team mate the winner’s trophy.

“He did it on the podium, which I thought was a nice gesture. Actually, I ended up at home with both of the trophies, first and second! Then a few weeks later Eddie called me and said can he have the second-place one? So I sent it to him.

“People say it must have been frustrating for me, but I didn’t think of it that way at that time. I just thought that’s my job, so it’s okay. That’s how it was. It’s a team sport.

“And I sacrificed some other races also for Eddie and the team, like Spa. I could have been also on the podium there easily, but I had to do a little bit of a lift off there. So I took some bullets there, too.”

"Eddie gave me his winner's trophy on the podium, which was a nice gesture" Mika Salo

But he did have the satisfaction of completing the podium, behind winner Frentzen and runner-up Ralf Schumacher, on Ferrari’s home ground at Monza.

So how does he look back on that episode of his F1 career?

“After the season, when Eddie didn’t win the championship, then of course I was a little bit sad because I could have kept that win at Hockenheim, after all!”

His two stand-out performances in the F399 played a significant role in Ferrari winning their first world championship – the constructors’ – since 1983, and earned him a ride with Ferrari-powered Sauber for 2000.

He’d come into F1 with the fading Team Lotus back in 1994 at Peter Collins’ behest and drove superbly on his debut in the sodden Japanese GP in the unloved 109.

“I was living in Japan at that time and it was a week before Suzuka, when Johnny [Herbert] went to Benetton. So Peter called me suddenly in the middle of the night and said, ‘Are you in Japan?’ I said I was. He said, ‘You’re gonna do the next race.’ I said, ‘Yes!’ So, that was it.

“I’d never been in a Formula 1 car in my life, until that first practice. But it was good. I qualified only 25th and it was a hard race in the rain, I stopped halfway through when Martin Brundle crashed into a tractor. I finished 10th, in front of my team mate Alex Zanardi.

“I think that the most fun I had was with Tyrrell, from 1995 to 1997. It was really nice, Steve Nielsen and all those guys. It was a small group and we were having a lot of fun. That was good times. We still managed to take points, even when only the top six scored.”

He was fifth in Italy and Austria and sixth in Japan in 1995, fifth in Brazil and Monaco and sixth in Australia in 1996, and fifth in Monaco in 1997.

“The car was pretty good, just underpowered. But now, if you were a small team like that you would be lost every race.”

"The most fun I had was with Tyrrell, from 1995 to 1997" Mika Salo

In 1998 a switch to Arrows yielded fourth place at his happy hunting ground of Monaco, while the move to Sauber for 2000 saw him finish fifth in the Principality and in Germany, and sixth in Imola and Austria.

“The Sauber was pretty good, too, though Jean [Alesi] did most of the development the year before, so it was a bit funny. But we made it pretty good during the year. It was just a little bit of chaos there all the time, and I didn’t get along with Peter [Sauber] so well.”

Sauber led to the chance to work with Toyota in 2001, developing their car ready for a championship campaign in 2002.

“At the beginning it was quite hard because everybody came from sports cars or rallying. We were testing a lot of really stupid stuff. With Ferrari we were testing for the future already, like five years later, and they would test some parts and put them on the shelf just in case it’s allowed in five years’ time or something like that. But in Toyota it was really bad. The test car was really bad. It was heavy and very difficult to work with. But it was good people, and we got along very well. But overall it wasn’t good enough.”

His best results came early, with sixths in Australia and Brazil, but the team decided to change both drivers for 2003, leaving Salo and Allan McNish out of F1.

“That p****d me off actually, because we did only one year racing and then they said they don’t need us anymore and we had been working making the cars the way we wanted them to be and could have done some really good results the next year. Then they changed the drivers and it was really stupid because then they sacrificed the next year also, because maybe the new drivers don’t like ‘our’ cars.”

Subsequently, Salo’s career took him to CART, Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship, V8 Supercars and Bathurst, establishing him as a fast all-rounder.

In 2008 and 2009 with Risi Competizione he helmed a Ferrari to GT2 class victory at Le Mans (with Gianni Bruni and Jaime Melo, and Melo and Pierre Kaffer respectively), while one-off appearances for Ford Performance Racing in V8 Supercars Down Under yielded second at Surfer’s Paradise in 2011, and victory there in 2012. Two years later he shared a Maranello Motorsport Ferrari F458 GT3 with Craig Lowndes, John Bowe and Peter Edwards to win the Bathurst 12 Hours.

Today, he’s happy working with SMP Racing, being an FIA driver steward at selected races, doing some television commentary and his Finnish TV show, Test Drive by Mika Salo.

"It was a small group and we were having a lot of fun. That was good times" Mika Salo on Tyrrell

“I’m a sporting director for SMP Racing, with the team and about 30 young drivers around the world. I advise them, and with my contacts I can help them. It’s nice. That’s why I like doing the steward’s job, to keep me in contact with other people here. I’m happy.”

He likes the way F1 is going, too.

“Looking at the new owners, I think it’s good. It’s more show now and there’s more action here. And I think it looks nice. The competition could be a little bit better. Now there’s six cars that can fight for a win. But then there’s a big gap. It would be nice to have everybody there. Give everybody the shot of doing well. But it’s been always like that, basically. In the past it’s been McLaren, Williams and Ferrari always there. In the old days if you got fifth or sixth it was a big deal, wasn’t it?”

So what would his optimum 2021 Formula 1 be?

“I don’t know. I would probably have a bit less technology. A little bit less things on the steering wheel and ban the computers from the paddock, or something like that. There’s still too many things to do.

“Drivers are totally dependent on the team, what they tell them on the radio. They’re on the radio constantly. And the driver is totally lost if the team don’t talk to him all the time. So, I don’t like this part. It should be just flat-out racing. No saving tyres, no saving fuel. You go flat-out from start to finish, and maybe bring the refuelling back and softer tyres. So, do shorter stints and have more pit stops and make it more team work that way. More chance of different strategies, more dependence on the driver. That would be ideal.”

Once a racer, always a racer.

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MCLAREN SET TO ANNOUNCE SAINZ TO REPLACE ALONSO

A veteran Spaniard is set to make way for a young compatriot when Fernando Alonso brings to an end his Formula 1 career at the end of this season with McLaren and in his place will step Carlos Sainz.

An announcement is expected on Thursday which will confirm Sainz on a two-year deal with the beleaguered Woking outfit.

McLaren’s big bucks bid for Daniel Ricciardo was snubbed by the Red Bull driver who has instead taken up with Renault for the next couple of years.

This freed up Sainz whose paymasters, Red Bull, are not keen to pair up the Spaniard with Max Verstappen as the potential for conflict between the pair is great, to say the least.

At McLaren, it is clear that Stoffel Vandoorne has not stepped up to the plate and delivered on expectations thus he will be lucky not to be reduced to the list of great junior drivers who never had what it takes to deliver in the top flight.

Alonso rates Vandoorne and his departure may afford the Belgian a reprieve to keep him on alongside Sainz to have some form of continuity within the team.

They also have Lando Norris waiting in the wings. The plan would then to give the teenager several FP1 sessions during the course of the season, before making a call on his future while keeping Vandoorne honest.

Ricciardo’s shock move to Renault triggered a frenzied ‘summer break’ of Silly Season info overload.

Where do we stand now? More questions than answers:

• Fernando Alonso leaving the circus at the end of this season who to replace him?
• Force India being saved by the Lawrence Stroll led consortium and the drivers will be Lance and?
• Nicolas Latifi’s father buying a chunk of McLaren so when does his son get a ride?
• Who to partner Verstappen at the Bulls?
• Who for Toro Rosso if Pierre Gasly gets promoted to Red Bull?
• Charles Leclerc or Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari?
• End of the road for Romain Grosjean?
• Sergio Perez to Haas?

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VILLENEUVE: FERRARI MUST KEEP RAIKKONEN

The summer break that never was, has served us a savoury selection of Silly Season tidbits, first Mercedes confirmed their boys for 2019, then Renault bombed us with the Daniel Ricciardo scoop and most recently Fernando Alonso has decided to say adiós to Formula 1.

The next piece of the puzzle to fit is expected to be confirmation that Kimi Raikkonen will spend another year at Ferrari alongside Sebastian Vettel, a scenario that 1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve is encouraging Maranello to maintain.

Meanwhile, time waits for nobody, in the F1 paddock a new generation of impressive young guns is emerging, one among them is Charles Leclerc who has made a strong case for himself to be considered for promotion to Ferrari amid an excellent rookie season with Sauber.

The Monegasque would be the first graduate to the Scuderia from the team’s in-house Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA), thus some believe it is a toss-up between the two – Leclerc or Raikkonen – but the smart money is on the veteran Finn getting the nod because he ticks all the boxes, including a healthy relationship with Vettel and a strong ally in team chief Maurizio Arrivabene.

Villeneuve was asked during an interview on “Beyond the Grid” podcast if the Ferrari driver deserved another year with Reds, he replied, “Of course! Look how well he has been doing.”

“He is third in the championship, his often quicker than Vettel and when he is not he is a tenth or so behind, he is paramount in the development of the car. The whole team works fantastically well now.”

“Put a young cub next to Vettel, what will Vettel do? He will try to eat him alive, he will either destroy the young cub or it will end in tears and the team will end up going slower within two years.”

Leclerc looks destined to be a Ferrari driver at some point in the future, but right now Villeneuve says the 20-year-old needs more grooming, “Charles is still making a few mistakes. It would be great for Leclerc, it would be amazing for him but it will be two years of Ferrari preparing him. Ferrari is like Mercedes, it is not a team to prepare drivers.”

“It’s a top team, top teams pay for the drivers when they are at their best and when they want them. That’s why you have junior teams to prepare them.”

Legend (or be it myth?) suggests that racing drivers slow down once they have kids, but according to Villeneuve quite the opposite is happening with the 38-year-old, “Kimi has been quite chatty now, he makes full phrases and they are coherent, so now I think you see more who he is now than in the past. He also is doing his best driving this way.”

“I think having a kid some people will say you lose one second per kid, with Kimi it looks more like he has been gaining and his work is better having kids.”

“Maybe it gave him a reason in life to do something positive, to become better at something, to show… I don’t know but it seems to have tied the line.”

“You never know what will affect you psychologically and sometimes in the most unlikely situations will have averse or a positive result. You never know how it will turn out,” added Villeneuve.

Raikkonen was the last driver to win the world championship for Ferrari when he triumphed in 2007, He departed the team at the end of 2009 to be replaced by Fernando Alonso at Maranello.

He spent a couple of years in the wilderness before returning to F1 in 2012 with Lotus where he impressed enough for Ferrari to lure him back to the team for 2014, where he remains alongside Vettel.

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BRIATORE: IN FORMULA 1 ONE SHOULD NEVER SAY NEVER

While Fernando Alonso has apparently closed the door in Formula 1, he did leave a slight door open for a possible return in his official message in the McLaren announcement press release and now his longtime mentor and associate Flavio Briatore is also hinting that the door is not firmly shut as yet.

Alonso left the door open for a return, hinting that if McLaren found the magic bullet he would be back, “My heart is with the team forever. I know they will come back stronger and better in the future and it could be the right moment for me to be back in the series; that would make me really happy.”

Andrea Cremonesi of dello Sport asked Briatore about Alonso’s decision, to which the former Renault F1 team chief responded: “I can explain Fernando’s decision – it just made no sense to keep on racing for seventh and eighth plus. A driver loses the motivation.”

“But I also find it strange that in this Formula 1 era there is apparently no place to be found on the grid for a talented driver such as Fernando.”

Red Bull chief Christian Horner said recently that Alonso was a driver who would be difficult to manage, and creates “chaos” wherever he tends to go – which echoes the sentiment of a large portion of the media and knowledgeable F1 fans, but Briatore disagrees.

The 68-year-old Italian entrepreneur and former team manager, who played an instrumental role in the Spaniard’s career, said, “I’m friends with Christian, but here Horner is not one to speak. He talks the good talk!”

“If there is a racing team that cannot handle their drivers, then it is Red Bull. That’s exactly why Daniel Ricciardo is leaving. Fernando drove for me and he glorified the Renault team, he was an exemplary teammate for the other drivers, a benchmark for the engineers.”

As for Alonso’s future beyond Formula 1, Briatore said, “Let’s see. First, it is time to finish the F1 season and the World Endurance Championship. I could understand it if he takes a break. Anyway, talking about a final farewell is too early. In Formula 1, things change very fast so one should never say never.”

Early in the year, around the time of their ‘home’ grand prix in Bahrain it was clear that McLaren had failed miserably with their 2018 car. Last year they boasted the best chassis but no power unit to measure up against as they were solo with Honda engines.

But this year the team that expected to challenge for wins are struggling to crack it beyond Q1 in qualifying and then scrapping for the minor positions in the races.

Briatore recalled, how shortly after the race in Manama, he had said, “The terrific fourth place of Pierre Gasly in the Toro Rosso-Honda shows that McLaren has no more excuses. McLaren have to sort out their car, it most certainly is not the drivers. ”

“Alonso is constantly driving at the highest level, he is at least as strong as Hamilton and drives very consistently. I would like to witness Fernando in a Mercedes or Ferrari,” added Briatore.

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Fernando Alonso set for IndyCar test next month - Report

Fernando Alonso’s announcement that he is to retire from Formula 1 at the end of 2018 was immediately met by speculation of a Verizon IndyCar Series ride for 2019. After an open invitation from the series, Alonso is reportedly partaking in an IndyCar test.

The news comes several weeks after rumours first surfaced regarding a fall IndyCar test for Alonso. RACER reports that multiple sources have linked Alonso to an IndyCar test, possibly at Barber Motorsport Park before the season ends in September.

Having only competed on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, a test at Barber would be crucial to Alonso’s move to the series regarding how he feels in the car on road courses. Also, Alonso has yet to drive in the current aero kit used in the Verizon IndyCar Series as he competed in a more downforce-heavy chassis in the 2017 Indianapolis 500.

While there is no indication of which teams the test would take place for, the likeliest option is Andretti Autosport. Alonso ran with Andretti in the 2017 Indy 500 in a joint program with McLaren. Regardless of the IndyCar team in question, a partnership with McLaren is likely due to the driver’s connection to the team and the team’s interest in IndyCar.

Other rumoured rides include Harding Racing, who continue to explore options to run a second car for the 2019 season. The #88 Harding Racing Chevrolet has remained a possible rotating seat for the remainder of the season as a full-time driver search continues.

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Mid-season review: Renault on the rise

Renault has almost stuck to the plan it implemented upon its acquisition of the dilapidated Lotus squad at the end of 2015, improving from ninth to sixth last year, and now holding fourth at the midway point of 2018. It has yet to take the podium finish it initially targeted way back when, though that owes much to the chasm it faces to the leading three squad – signalling that it still has substantial ground to make up. That it has acquired the services of Daniel Ricciardo (his signing undoubtedly its greatest achievement this year) acutely demonstrates that it is determined to close, and overhaul, such a deficit. Renault finished 2017 as the fourth-fastest package and it is therefore little surprise to see it replicate such a position this season, having already comfortably surpassed last year’s points tally. The car has been capable of points at each event though when tyre wear is marginal it appears to struggle more so than others. Reliability has been vastly improved, though the acid test will surely come when an attempt to substantially ramp up performance is undertaken. 

Hulkenberg’s laid-back persona (that would see him ably cast in a high-brow scripted reality show) masks a hardworking individual capable of a stunning turn of speed on track. Hulkenberg has scored points in eight of the 12 Grands Prix to lead Renault’s charge and see off the threat posed by younger team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. In Azerbaijan his own prang (his now customary once-a-year-error) frustratingly put him out of a race that turned into a lottery, while next time out in Spain he was a victim of Romain Grosjean’s hot-headedness. An exploding turbo in Austria and a Q2 mechanical gremlin in Hungary were at fault for his other failures to score. Formula 1’s current era far more suits Hulkenberg’s style than the previous tyre-saving phase, and Hulkenberg can be depended upon to deliver the goods for Renault – at least 90 per cent of the time. The impending Hulkenberg-Ricciardo battle is already one to savour, and we still have to wait another seven months. 

Statistically, Sainz Jr. is having a worse season than 2017, all while equipped with a better car. Now thrust into a manufacturer team, and having had the benefit of a late-2017 stint with Renault, Sainz Jr. has largely been a step behind Hulkenberg through the first half of this year, as reflected in the qualifying head-to-head, lap time difference and points table. Albeit partly politically motivated, that Renault was eager to bring in Esteban Ocon, before ultimately recruiting Ricciardo, did not paint Sainz Jr. in a good light, nor has Red Bull’s decision to evaluate 2019 options further. That is not to say Sainz Jr. has had a lamentable season. He avoided trouble to take a fine fifth in Azerbaijan, scored strongly on home turf, and would have classified higher in France but for a faulty turbo that relegated him to eighth late on. However, for a driver so eager to prove his worth in a manufacturer team this time last year a little bit of gloss has been taken off his reputation. 

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Rivals "bitching" to undermine Magnussen have failed - Steiner

Kevin Magnussen's rivals have tried to knock his confidence by complaining about his driving, reckons Haas Formula 1 team boss Gunther Steiner.
Magnussen is starring in his second season with Haas, scoring 45 points and sitting eighth in the championship, but has received ongoing criticism from several of his fellow drivers.

Steiner told Motorsport.com that Haas is happy to see Magnussen fighting hard on-track and believes complaints over the radio or to the media are just tactics to undermine him.

"We want him to race and sometimes you have to ruffle feathers if you want to get something," Steiner said.

"Nobody gives anything for free here. People say he does it on purpose: no.

"He wants to make a mark but he doesn't drive aggressive. He doesn't say, 'I'm going to go aggressive here, I'm not a pushover'.

"That creates more criticism [from] the established drivers. 'Is this young guy coming and wanting to tell me, I cannot get pass? I will bitch about it'.

"Everybody plays the game here and you need to. I'm not critiquing other drivers, they try their best to knock his confidence but they don't achieve it.

"A lot of them let go already, because they see there's no point, he's not a pushover anymore."

While Magnussen has been involved in some high-profile flare-ups, such as his clash with Nico Hulkenberg in Hungary last year or Pierre Gasly in Azerbaijan this season, he is not suffering particularly badly at the hands of the stewards.

That clash with Gasly earned him two penalty points on his licence, taking his current tally to three, with 12 triggering an automatic one-race ban.

Magnussen's points tally is nowhere near teammate Romain Grosjean's and Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson's - both are on seven points - and is also lower than Kimi Raikkonen (five) and Lance Stroll, Sergey Sirotkin and Gasly (all on four).

"I respect the other drivers, and in particular of course the ones that had success and those who have achieved what I want to achieve, the world champions," Magnussen told Motorsport.com.

"I have huge respect, but I really don't care personally what they think.

"What matters most to me is that I extract the most out of myself and that I do the best that I can.

"If the team thinks I've pushed too hard, they'll let me know. If the stewards think that I've pushed too hard, they'll let me know.

"I base my opinion on that and I try and improve like that. I'm not perfect and I don't think I'm perfect. I know I make mistakes and I know I cross the line sometimes.

"But I have to find that balance in myself and in my own opinion, and not be influenced by what other drivers think."

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Renault can't back off upgrades for 2019 car

Renault cannot afford to let its 2019 work compromise its 2018 car's development because of the pressure it is under in Formula 1's midfield battle, says chassis chief Nick Chester.
The French manufacturer consolidated fourth in the constructors' championship heading into the summer break with 82 points to its name, 16 more than fifth-placed Haas.

Renault is already 25 points clear of last year's tally as its progress continues since rejoining the F1 grid in 2016, but chassis technical director Chester says switching to the 2019 car, which must have a very different front wing concept, could impact its fight for fourth.

Asked in Hungary by Motorsport.com how soon he thought Renault could switch, Chester said: "We know we can't really. We have to develop.

"We have already got things in the pipeline that are going to hit after shutdown.

"Maybe once we can get to race 15 [Singapore] or 16 [Russia] we can review it but by then most things will be in process anyway to the end of the year.

"It's just too tight. An Austria result [Haas finished fourth and fifth while Renault recorded a double-DNF] and you've wiped that [gap] out.

"We've got to keep going and pushing and getting pace on the car."

Renault has been effective in scoring regular points this season while its midfield rivals rise and fall out of the top 10 depending on whether the circuit suits their cars.

Haas has regularly had the fourth-quickest car, and is particularly strong on medium and high-speed tracks, but mistakes and misfortune have set it back.

It has also benefitted from engine supplier Ferrari appearing to overtake Mercedes, and pull away from Renault, in terms of performance.

Chester admitted that the boost Ferrari is giving Haas, and surprise sporadic top-10 contender Sauber, "does give us a concern".

He said that even once the 2019 car's development does escalate, "anything that we can find and develop on that that we can put back on this car, we'll try and do".

"A lot of the work is moving over to '19 now anyway and it just depends what we find," he said.

"Probably from now on, there'll be a few more updates and then after that will probably be smaller parts that can come out of the windtunnel programme that working on '19. But we know we're going to have to keep going all year."

Renault introduced a new front wing concept in Germany and may bring "a couple more development" to complement that.

It has further upgrades planned further down the car that are independent to that concept.

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Mid-season review: Red Bull's feast or famine 

Red Bull recognised the 2017 regulations as an opportunity but initial correlation problems skewered its prospects, and it took until mid-season to recover, after which it was able to compete for wins. It targeted a stronger start this year and has thus avoided spending the year playing catch-up, though it remains at a disadvantage to Ferrari and Mercedes – the deficit of which it firmly dumps on Renault’s shoulders. It is simply not as quick in qualifying – owing to the lack of boost modes – and that has usually left Red Bull’s drivers at the lower end of row two or row three. That leaves it at a disadvantage for race trim in normal circumstances, while inferior reliability has also been costly in the context of the modern area. Red Bull’s management has seen enough from Renault and decided that Honda is the future – though faced a side-swipe of its own in the wake of Daniel Ricciardo’s departure. Red Bull is fed up of being the distant bridesmaid; time will tell whether its Honda marriage will yield the desired leap forwards. 

This has been a typical Daniel Ricciardo season: stunningly opportunistic, limited by machinery, or on the sidelines. Of the 12 Grands Prix held this year he has either won, finished fourth or fifth, or retired – perhaps epitomising Red Bull’s form in the hybrid era. Ricciardo grasped his chance with both hands in China to thrillingly carve past rivals, and in Monaco he was simply peerless all weekend, achieving a sort of redemption after his 2016 heartache. Elsewhere it has been a case of bagging the points, in an often lonely fashion, or parking up his stricken RB14 – and there was also the high-profile clash with Max Verstappen in Azerbaijan, for which he internally copped more blame than externally. Off-track much of Ricciardo’s year has been focused on his 2019 decision (the first questions came pre-season) and after Hungary he sprung a surprise by defecting to Renault. Now out of title contention, let’s hope we get a few more Ricciardo divebombs and another win before the partnership ends. 

It has been a half season of two halves for Verstappen. Across the first events every decision he made seemed to be the wrong ones, as he wrecked weekends with mistakes and clashes. In Australia he spun, in Bahrain he crashed in qualifying and hit Lewis Hamilton in the race, in China he spun Sebastian Vettel, having already gone wide, in Azerbaijan he collided with Ricciardo, in Monaco he crashed in practice, side lining him from a qualifying session he could have topped – or at least taken second. Since then he has taken a trio of podiums – including a brilliantly well-judged win on Red Bull’s home turf in Austria. It would appear that he has been through the rough patch, learned the lessons, and emerged from the other side as a stronger driver, without blunting his naturally aggressive driving style. And it is still terrifying to remember he is only 20…