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Post by ChrisM on Jul 19, 2017 21:25:29 GMT
Comments in here, please
EDIT: The week after the race, there is a sanctioned test session at which Renault have confirmed that Kubica will get to drive a current-spec F1 car.
I will have fingers and toes crossed for him, would be great for him to make a come-back later in this season.
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Post by johnc on Jul 25, 2017 12:26:08 GMT
The only problem with Kubica making a comeback is that a British driver will get the bullet. I have no doubt that Kubica is a better driver than Palmer (although we are talking degrees of excellence here) but it still pains me when the British contingent is depleted.
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Post by Sav on Jul 25, 2017 20:50:10 GMT
I know I've said it before, but Palmer isn't good enough. The team know it, they can see his deficiencies to Hulkenberg. Having a teamate like Hulkenberg has exposed his weaknesses to a greater degree, compared to Magnussen last year. Rowland is a Renault junior and I wonder if they would take a punt on him. He hasn't exactly shone in Formula 2, but given the massive gulf between F1 and F2 in terms of tyres and laptime - I wonder if it will be solely considered. F3000 was fairly awful in its final years and Alonso didn't stand out in the category, but Alonso still made it to F1. I'm not saying F2 is awful, but it evidently isn't the stepping-stone to F1 it once was - as envisaged when GP2 was launched.
Sirotkin is Renault's reserve driver, but I can't see them giving him a race seat.
I'm not sure about Kubica. His determination and effort can't be underestimated, neither his physical preparation to get to this stage. However, there are some awfully good youngsters coming through the ranks, like George Russell and Lucas Auer who will be testing next week. I think Kubica will be impressively quick, but he needs to be on the same level as the junior drivers from other teams. The cars corner significantly faster compared to last year year, I can only imagine how violent the g-forces must be. I think Kubica has had far too long away from the arena to jump back in and be race-ready.
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Post by Big Blue on Jul 29, 2017 6:07:44 GMT
After Saturday I think Palmer will be watching the Belgian GP on TV.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2017 10:03:27 GMT
I think Palmer will give watching the Belgian GP a miss and do something else. Personally, Kubica would bring some much needed publicity and exposure to the team, and their sponsors for at least a year. I believe the third test was the writing on the wall that will see Jolyon out and Mr K in, soon.
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Post by Sav on Jul 31, 2017 21:39:18 GMT
Handbags between Magnussen and Hulkenberg!
Motorsport needs rivalries and a little hate, F1 is no different. I don’t know why Haas are getting so worked up over Hulkenberg's turn 1 mistake. It looked like Hulkenberg was right on the adhesion of grip, the rear stepped out and unfortunately Hulkenberg’s Renault was alongside Grosjean’s Haas to sphere into. That was a typical first turn of a Grand Prix. Grosjean being Grosjean felt the need for yet another radio meltdown.
At turn two, Magnussen had every right to run Hulkenberg out of space. Passing around the outside of turn two has increasingly become popular in recent years. It’s a long, tight left hander with a lot of the grip on the outside. If that driver on the outside can even get halfway alongside by the the middle of the turn, they might well be able to get back to the throttle sooner and have the high ground for turn three. However, when a driver really doesn’t want to cooperate and allow the pursuing driver around the outside, it’s pretty clear. I’m not sure where Hulkenberg was going; he put himself on the grass. Magnusssen didn’t even make contact with Hulkenberg, it looked like the latter expected the red carpet rolled out for him and Magnussen quite rightly said no.
And unfortunately again, the consistency of the stewarding has to be called into question. Magnussen got a time penalty for robustly defending his position, yet Hulkenberg got no penalty for his incident at turn 1 (quite rightly), and no F2 driver got peanlised for doing what Magnussen did. To throw in another random penalty, F2 driver Jordan King got a time penalty for unsafely re-joining the track at turn 4. That’s fine, except multiple drivers did that and got no penalties. You either give every driver the same penalty for the same offence, or not at all. It has been encouraging that the stewards have generally been okay to let the drivers race it out in 2017, but every now and again, you get these random penalties. Derrick Warick also acted inappropriately as an FIA steward. He gave advice to F2 driver Oliver Rowland how to handle a steward’s inquiry after an incident - I could hear the audio just before the podium. I know that Rowland is a Brit, he’s a great driver, but he shouldn’t be getting advice from a supposedly neutral FIA Steward. I think the whole stewarding regime needs overhauling.
In other news, it was said to hear about Porsche leaving LMP1. I say it with regret because I want motorsport to be as healthy as it can be. However, I’ve always been sceptical of LMP1. I’ve constantly said it isn’t sustainable and not enough are interested. Even more worrying were Jean Todt’s comments after Le Mans, apparently, having only two LMP1 teams and an LMP2 car almost winning Le Mans was a sign of success. I think the FIA and Liberty are at loggerheads with F1. Jean Todt wants more road relevance, which results car manufacturers using their R&D might to outspend everyone, and privateers struggle to stay on the grid. It was so refreshing to hear the Liberty approach, to make the next generation of F1 powertrains attractive to independent builders, much louder and simpler. If we have engines again, not science experiments, it looks like Cosworth and Ilmor might be interested in engine supply to privateers. Ross Brawn acutely acknowledged that further attempts to mirror the car industry would result in F1 losing the core spectacles of motorsport. In fairness to Bernie, he also understood this, but the company he worked for weren’t particularly interested in influencing such matters.
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Post by ChrisM on Aug 1, 2017 7:46:05 GMT
Handbags between Magnussen and Hulkenberg! I think the whole stewarding regime needs overhauling. In other news, it was said to hear about Porsche leaving LMP1. +1 to the above points, stewarding perhaps being the most important one for F1's new owners to sort out with the FIA |
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Post by Eff One on Aug 3, 2017 12:38:47 GMT
I think Kubica has had far too long away from the arena to jump back in and be race-ready. On the basis of yesterday's test I think he's pretty close. |
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Post by ChrisM on Aug 3, 2017 13:05:04 GMT
He's more than pretty close. It was expected that the Renault would be the 4th quickest car in the test (if it had a decent driver behind the wheel), and guess what, with Kubica at the wheel he was 4th fastest. He also covered more than a full GP distance, proving his stamina/health; I hope he's racing at Spa
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 14:56:34 GMT
Sounds like the real issue is Robert himself making the leap. A little time is all I think.
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Post by Eff One on Aug 4, 2017 6:38:17 GMT
Kubica did more than 2 GP distances (142 laps) and got within a tenth of Palmer's Q2 time. Only he and the team will know how representative that was - he was on ultrasoft tyres (Palmer on supersofts) but likely carrying more fuel. He also eclipsed the team's fastest race lap within the first 2 hours - on comparable tyres and likely carrying a decent amount of fuel - and did some seriously impressive race runs later on. All of this in 35 degree heat.
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Post by Big Blue on Aug 4, 2017 12:20:51 GMT
I think Kubica needs a personal sponsor deal to bring to the table in the initial instance. As a story it will be exactly what F1 will be after in the interlull before Belgium.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2017 13:31:38 GMT
Whoeve sponsors Robert will get a heck of a lot of attention over each race weekend. Returns should be good.
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Post by Sav on Aug 5, 2017 22:23:19 GMT
Kubica’s return to F1 machinery was undoubtedly impressive, especially given his injuries. His pace was outstanding considering that, but also, for being away from modern F1 for so long. However, I still think it’s too early to say whether he would be the most effective candidate for the Renault seat, alongside Hulkenberg. There have been a lot of drivers who’ve been very impressive in testing, only to find themselves a few tenths away in qualifying when it matters. And whilst such margins don’t sound like a lot in isolation, in such a situation, that driver becomes the number two in the team. Because you can be sure that Hulkenberg will maximise everything there is, that has to be yardstick for Renault.
If Kubica were to fill the second Renault seat, what would that say about the obvious junior talent coming through the junior formulae? When Renault returned to F1 as a factory outfit, they reinstated their junior driver programme that they used to have in the early 2000’s, that found the likes of Alonso. Is Renault saying that they aren’t confident enough to promote one of their young drivers?
Generally, it is a shame that there aren’t more race seats in F1. Given the width, length and pit facilities of these Tikedrome’s, I think a 28 car field is quite feasible. That would give more opportunities to the excellent youngsters coming through the junior ranks. When I looked at the test in Hungary, there are so many promising names there. I think a fair few deserve an opportunity in F1 at the very least. But with the current 20-car field, that simply won’t happen.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that a 28-car field is possible with the current regulations. By that, I don’t mean the 2017 aerodynamic regulations; I refer to the powertrain regulations that make it extremely difficult for privateers to enter the sport. If they can’t find a relatively reasonably-priced engine, it’s an immediate stumbling block. Hopefully the next powertrain regulations are simpler and make sense for independent engine builders. Even if we see some energetic youngster wrestling a truly dreadful car from a relatively cash-strapped team, isn’t that what we want to see? Some of the sport’s best have started that way, got noticed – and became successful from that point. People talk about driver development programmes and junior formulas for identifying talent, what about simply seeing them race in F1? They might well be disappointing, but you just never know. There needs to be more opportunity for racing in F1, the likes of Alonso and Webber did very well by outperforming Minardi’s in the early 2000’s.
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