2016 FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX: RACE *** SPOILERS ***

Extremely unlikely. Ferrari do not respond well to rule changes. Pity there is no Benetton to purchase again .

Yes if you go back to the 60's they did, but the rules changes were simple engine size change ... now they are complex and Newey will come out fighting, and Merc (if they keep playing? ... if they do it will be unusual. They have very much made their point like 1955).
Pete

 

Maybe they should buy Mercedes .

I agree, save money is on Newey. They put an upgrade on their car earlier in the season that made them eat tires like crazy, but it seems he upgraded that part again as that problem is gone now it looks like.

When Ferrari tried to acquire Newey a few years back (2012ish?) I didn't think they tried hard enough. Should've offered him 50, 60 million. I think they stopped at 20. They pay it for their drivers, but drivers don't make a huge difference anymore. It makes more sense to pay the best brainiac there is an obscene amount of money than drivers.

 

Sorry Pete: even in the sixties, they did not always respond very well to the simple engine changes: remember 1966 and the passage to 3 litre engines: they were so convinced that they were simply the best at building engines that they did not care to design a proper 3 litre V-12 for the 1966 season, but simply detuned a big endurance 4,4 litre block to 3 litre, with the result that it was overweight and gutless, and always were trailing the opposition. A bloke from Australia called Jack Brabham beat them with his adaptation of the basic Repco V8 in 1966 and 1967...it took them three years to design a proper engine!

Rgds

 

So completely true! Forgot about that change.
Pete

 

Finances?

Honda not only brings the engine to Mclaren, but is also the team main sponsor.

Riccardo would have to be paid to design an F1 engine , and it would certainly not sponsor McLaren.

 

Technical analysis: Key Mercedes updates leave rivals floundering

Mercedes development relentless.

 

+1

 

It seems with their approach to micro-fin and slot everything they have opened a new can of aero worms.

I hope they are not going to run away with this the way RBR did with their aero combination...

 

At present yes, but who knows about the future?

Enstone turned up quite a few good cars in the past, no?

4 WDCs remember ...

 

It eventually caused Amon to leave the team!

 

I think just about every decent person that worked for that team has left them in the last few years as Lotus (due to non payment or very big possibility of suddenly no paycheck).

So long as Red Bull have Newey I wouldn't bet against them. Bad luck regarding a **** engine last couple of years, but on the way up now. If they had similar power to Mercedes they'd give them a bloody fight for the title.

 

Nothing here about their intake..looks much bigger.
And I agree about Newey..he be the best in the biz.
If merc or Ferrari gave them (RB) engines they'd be leading the series.

It amazes me to see merc and rb bring updates that work, and it shows.
Not sure we've done anything, I mean Im sure we have,
but we seem to be in a midseason slump. Silverstone we looked
like we took 2 steps back.

 

+1

Though I think part of the reason we had a mid seasons slump could be because of James Allison's wife dying very suddenly early in the season. James had to go back to England to sort a lot of stuff out, situation with the kids etc. No idea what's up with that at the moment but I assume the kids are in some sort of boarding school. The family moved to Italy for his work, and with him gone most of the time now at the races etc, there was no one to take care of the kids. Must be horrible for them, mom gone and rarely see their dad.

Ferrari didn't made a fuss about it in the paddock, which is good, but us fans easily forget. I certainly have at times, as it's not something you take into equation.

 

+1 its nice to develop, its a good thing if it works When the team boss at Ferrari says they are riding bad luck, we are not 'improving'. The team must publicly state they are still developing this car, but we know they must start focusing more each week on next year with the results that Ferrari are not making.

 

+1. Id like to see both Renault and Mclaren gain strength and be more competitive. I will not count them out. We know little of what they are doing.

 

Well, yes and no: it was the time it took for the Scuderia to admit that they were short on power and torque, and when they did at last, and produced a new design, that one broke a lot during its first tests. So, it was mainly the testing of the new Flat-12 (or 180° V-12) at the summer of 1969 that sealed his decision; during these first tests the new engine was breaking regularly, and Amon feared that it would never become reliable; so after much heart searching, he decided to leave. He always had "buyer's remorse" almost since the very day he left.
And as it is well known, he was one of a very, very small number of drivers to part amicably with Enzo Ferrari; Enzo was sorry about him leaving, but shaked hand with him saying: "Chris, I bet you that Ferrari will win a Grand Prix before you will".
And of course, Amon being not very gifted for chosing the right team at the right time, it so happened that his 1970 March was not a good car, and that Ferrari had a very strong end to the 1970 season, winning four races, with that Flat-12 engine.
Amon always maintained very good relationship with Enzo; he was almost back at the Scuderia in 1973, the deal was in fact more or less sealed but one of his sponsors objected (Martini, if I recall well); and there is the wonderful story of the postcard Chris Amon received deep in his own country somewhere in New Zealand for his 40th birthday, written in violet ink by Enzo himself...
It's a pity that we do not see him very often in Europe these days, despite his perennial reputation as "the most gifted driver never to win a Grand Prix" (which is selling him and his talent short...) he was a very important member of the Scuderia's history. As I wrote a number of times, Mauro Forghieri has often said that Chris Amon was the driver he liked the most during his 25 years leading the Scuderia engineering team, and the best one.

Rgds

 

Well, that was also because they were almost broke back then and fighting the Ford Motor Co. in sports cars was not cheap.

 

James should leave and go to his family. Far more important than motor racing!

I did not know about this, thanks.
Pete

 

I think he came back at Canada.

 

+1

 

To everyone saying the start helped Hamilton - I disagree. Rosberg is a complete pansy in the wet there was no way he would have got past Hamilton and if he nudged ahead off the line he wouldn't have kept any pace through the first series of corners.

I was upset the race didn't start normally when it was nice and wet. Lewis is easily 3-4 seconds a lap faster than Nicole in the wet and both himself and verstappen would have walked past nico and been 20 seconds down the road before it was time for inters. Instead we only got a few laps with wet tyres and nico was able to do a better job come intermediates and keep pace with the others.

Rosbergs penalty was completely justified. It's a ****ty rule but if the rule is there it must be followed (unlike in qualy where Kimi and a few others should have been eliminated but instead they eliminate poor Lewis who still goes on to get pole easily thank god - what a farce).

I wish merc had told hammy his problem in Baku. Only would have received a ten second penalty and assuming he could pass Perez and build a gap would have got third or at worst fourth.

The team clearly favour rosberg now (just look how they hung Hamilton out to dry on Austria). And now rushing to his aid The moment his car starts failing. It wasn't terminal - working out you can't use seventh gear is no worse than not being able to work out you are in the wrong setting. Without the teams help he would have been dead last and cruising around at 90kph looking like an idiot. Something I would have relished seeing.

My conclusions are that rosberg drove poorly and reaffirmed what we already knew that he sucks in the rain. Verstappen surprised me with his race pace - if he can somehow learn to get his qualifying pace to that of ricciardo then perhaps one day he could be as good as Hamilton which is saying a lot. Very impressed. Reminds me of a Schumacher - incredible race pace and race craft but around average qualifying pace.

Vettel drove terribly. Looks increasingly average. Started 11tj finished 9th in a superior car to those around him. Got himself a penalty for terrible driving and had a huge off when on slicks. I rate his skills less and less each day. Barely a match for Kimi lately - qualified .6 slower than him. And we all know what alonso did to Kimi. Still a great driver by all means and his 4 wdcs deserve some respect But no way he is on the same level as I Hamilton/alonso. Or even verstappen or Ricci.

Ah well at least Hamilton turned his engine down and saved it somewhat

 

+1 Absolutely. Red Bull figured this out years ago.

 

Agree, since the car is far more important than the driver they should spend the money on the top guy....because (as we can see with merc) any driver will win with such a superior car.
I could never understand why mercedes payed so much to hamilton ( i think they want to make a point and say, we have the best payed drivers) because they could easily replace him for half the grid and obtain similar results.

 

if you"re going to invest so much into returning to a racing series, you will hedge your bets and go with a sure thing versus taking a gamble on someone else. They weren't even the top team when they initially signed Hamilton and even during the revised power unit formula it hasn't always been smooth sailing. This season feels like they are much farther ahead than last year.

 

This has already been debated.

Drivers get a price tag on them that reflects their market value. That's why there is inflation on the drivers market.

Offering to Hamilton less than what Alonso, or Vettel, gets would mean that you think he isn't as good as those 2, for example. Also, the retainers clearly indicate who is Number One and 2 in a team - whatever they say.

Finally, paying a driver a lot of money is indication that you want to keep him by making any hostile bid more expensive.

Mercedes may have the best car, but it also wants the best drivers to get the most of it.
I bet that if Mercedes was to put Wehrlein in Hamilton car, and the kid started to win races, his market value would increase, and he would be unlikely to re-sign in the same terms nest time!
Remember how Hamilton's retainer shoot off sky high after just one year as a rookie in 2007, when he almost won the title at McLaren.