All Things Motorsport

[mickthemaverick]

I hate to think where F1 is headed in the future.

My bet is that wherever it is headed it won't be for the benefit of petrol heads!

[Michel]

Calvin Lo is seriously thinking about starting his own F1 team for 2026.
"who is Calvin Lo?"
Well he is a billionaire for a start.

Seems like a shrewd chap, and it's real money not crypto. I see this as a good thing. He tends to do things properly when he does them.

[Dormouse]

He certainly has actually been in F1 sponsorship for a while now, so if he is upping his investments in F1, he must be pretty sure of things.

[Michel]

He certainly has actually been in F1 sponsorship for a while now, so if he is upping his investments in F1, he must be pretty sure of things.

I believe he owns a chunk of Williams too. I don't have a problem with "unknowns" coming into F1. The ones I have an issue with are those who come in and think they're going to win everything immediately. Remember BAR? Pollock and Villeneuve reckoned they were going to win their first race back in 1999. They didn't score a single point that season. Andretti is shouting about entering F1, but I think they'd be a disaster, nay, a laughing stock..

[Dormouse]

Interesting that Jost Capito has left Williams at short notice then?

[Dormouse]

More interesting is that Andreas Seidl is going to head up Audi's F1 preparations and Ferrari have gone back to Fred Vasseur and given him the Team Principle job. Not that I am suggesting Fred isn't capable, I just don't see how he is any more capable than Mattia Binotto is and who has many years of Ferrari experience behind him.

[Dormouse]

My take on this is that Vasseur was approached a while back but was luke warm initially. Unbeknown to him at the beginning was that Ferrari actually wanted Andreas Seidl (possibly to thwart Audi). But Audi wanted Seidl as he had a lot of connections with the VW group and Sauber which started to gel with Audi's plan to move into F1. Vasseur then had to choose to be Team Principle at Ferrari or stay on at Sauber and hope to remain Team Principle under Seidl. I might be right or I may well be off beam on this one but, one thing for sure, there are a lot changes coming and they are not all about next season.

[Dormouse]

On the subject of big changes, this BBC article was posted today.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/64210632

[Dormouse]

MyGlaren has just posted about issues in his son's favourite sport and it has reminded me that serious issues need serious solutions.
Hopefully, Formula 1 is on the right track with the appointment of Steve Nielsson to the FIA Sporting Directorate.
Steve has arguably left behind a cushy job in Formula One Management to head up a rejuvenated (and vilified) Race Management team for the FIA. I wish him well.

[Dormouse]

Well, we have reached the F1 car unveiling season. Apparently, Red Bull are not announcing a new car only giving a Season Opening Announcement.
Fred Vasseur says he is there at Ferrari to win the Championship - why else would he be there?
Sauber, under Andreas Seidl, has announced not one but three Directors for their F1 Team. One Technical, one Sporting and one with Trackside and Media responsibilities. Hmmm! Interesting.

[Dormouse]

Well, the cat is out of the bag.
Ford are returning to F1.
Don't expect any DFVs anytime soon though.

[Dormouse]

Of the 3 F1 team announcements so far all the cars have been models and not actual race cars. The Alfa is supposed to be close to the actual race car but the other two were Sponsor Liveries only. So, it looks like we will have to wait for Bahrain before we get all the details for real.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Goodwood Festival of Speed traditional Hill Climb

This year won by....a Ford Transit



Neil

[bobins]

Pah ! That's slowwwwww. The McMurtry Spéirling did it 5 seconds quicker years ago.



I know I'm an old fuddy-duddy, but I can't enjoy the whine from the electric cars as they energize up the hillclimb - a good old exhaust roar / growl / bark / howl is so much more emotional.


Edit: Just reading the comments section for the above Youtube. They asked for one word to sum up the McMurtry's achievement. One wag just put 'kinell'

[NewcastleFalcon]

Well I think this thread has some potential for a revival having gone a bit silent since Dormouse went into hibernation who was an active contributor to the thread along with Mick and others who had a keen interest in Formula 1 and Rallying.

One wing of the Falcon clan has become avid viewers of the Net Flix Series Formula 1:Drive to Survive and on the back of that have started to look at the possibility of going to a Grand Prix as an Event and Experience. Staggering prices for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on initial enquiries...but are there other European events, USA/Canada which could maybe be fitted in with holiday plans 2025 which are maybe more accessible for the events themselves pricewise

For me Formula 1 has little appeal, and the bit which arrived on the main BBC news at the weekend of the "giving way" on team orders just destroys it as a sport. No doubt part and parcel of the sport understood and accepted by the faithful...not for me though.

In my youth I did enjoy a bit of Motorcross, and Scrambling served up by Grandstand, and there were also a bit of proper "hill climbing" in odd vehicles in proper mud and proper slopes. Speedway was also a bit of a hotbed up in Newcastle at Brough Park home of the Newcastle Diamonds who had a succession of World Speedway Champions from Ivan Mauger, to Ole Olsen and Anders Michanek.

.............Pick the ball up if you can add anything to the thread...........

Bit of nostalgia here.

If anyone wants to take themselves back to Grandstand on a Saturday afternoon in the sixties, and Murray Walker commentating on the scrambling, here's a nice little 10 minutes for you

Neil