Nichols mentionned that once, at Ferrari, he needed to fine-tune the suspension, and asked what assortment of coil springs were available. He was told there were only 3 types to chose from: 250lbs, 300lbs and 350lbs (for example). "Not good enough" he had said. Nichols insisted he wanted a range of springs with rates increasing gradually by 5lbs at the time, not leaping 50lbs. Nobody at Ferrari had ever heard of that, he reported: "They thought I was mad !" It was common practice at McLaren, Nichols recalled, to try different spring combinations with very close rates to find the sweet spot in the suspension setting.
I'm pretty sure what he's saying is that despite being in the UK since day 1, Mclaren has been without a title for since 2007 till 2024. If you take out both drivers not at fault retirements the numbers are staggeringly close. In 2016 Ricciardo was slightly faster. 2017 Max was slightly faster. 2018 the gap started to grow considerably. Keep in mind that Max only had 1 F3 season at a barely midfield team and 1 season at Toro Rosso before making the jump after a few races in his 2nd F1 season. Ricciardo had already been racing formula cars for 9 years and and was on his 6th F1 season by the time they became teammates. Quite a lot of extra experience. I'm trying to find the analysis deep dive that someone did between Max and Ric in their time together which analyzed the race laps when neither driver had problems. From memory Ric was slightly ahead 2016 (around half a tenth) and 2017 Max turned it around, and 2018 it grew. In meantime, here is the qualifying one... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Slightly unfair to critique Mc Laren during this period in my personal opinion. Huge power struggles within the team with Dennis, spygate, duff engine deals with Renault and the early Honda PU, Newy left the team, the list goes on. They may not have won a WCC but they were winning races regularily with LH and JB, it was basically a good car, things started to go South for them from 2013/14 they are winning now though which is good for the sport
Horner and Max would be great. But as long as they get rid of vapeur and LH, everything else is icing on the cake.
Nothing the team knew/acquired in the years {1950--2013} has any relevance to todays cars. So, just because they raced in F1 during those years, the knowledge gained does nothing for their race pace today.
Not whining as he responded to a press question about the subject: The British driver, who was quizzed about whether there is any truth to the rumours of the former Red Bull Racing team principal joining Ferrari — and whether he thinks that would be a good idea — commented: “I don’t, and I’m not going to entertain rumours.” Hamilton on the rumours surrounding Vasseur’s future Hamilton also weighed in on the ongoing speculation surrounding the future of team principal Vasseur at Ferrari. Vasseur lashed out at media reports earlier in the season and at the Canadian Grand Prix said it was unsettling the team. And Hamilton explained that such discussions in the media are distracting for the Maranello-based outfit. He said: “I don’t know where the rumours have come from, so I can’t really shed much light on that. But it’s a little bit distracting for us as a team.” “The team have made it clear where they stand in terms of re-signing Fred. Fred, I, and the whole team are working really hard on the future of the team, so these things naturally aren’t helpful.”
Final nail in the rumor coffin for Horner - British publication Daily Mail Sport reported on Monday that former Red Bull F1 CEO Horner held talks with Ferrari about taking over as team principal, a team he was prematurely linked with following his dismissal from Red Bull - only for that suggestion to be snuffed out first time round when incumbent team principal Fred Vasseur had his contract extended. And while The Race understands Horner had contact with a senior figure at Ferrari, this did not extend to conversations about a job, nor about replacing Vasseur.
He did not whine, he simply answered a question, the forced hate by some of you. He lives rent free in your heads.
