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Looks a bit insipid, reminds of that thing the Pink Panther used to arrive in at the beginning of the cartoon show.

Is Lady Pen Driving now? At least the rest of the Thunderbirds can come to the rescue if they breakdown, hahah

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Is Lady Pen Driving now? At least the rest of the Thunderbirds can come to the rescue if they breakdown, hahah

                                                                                                                                                          :boredom: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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For Andrew I've lifted this from Pitpass' daily email bulletin:

 

And then there's McLaren.

We await the official description, but we're sure the words 'valuable' and 'learning' will appear - which reminds us of an old Ken Dodd joke.

Over the course of the day, Fernando Alonso completed 47 laps, posting a best time 4.074s off the pace.

While there were no engine changes, there were lots of single lap runs, which must be as frustrating for the driver as it is for the fans. 

Having completed 27 laps in the morning we were expecting a flurry of activity after lunch. However, over an hour into the afternoon, with no sighting of the Woking car, Honda revealed: "Alonso will be out gathering aero data, testing tyre compounds and mapping the power unit."

True to his word, the Spaniard did appear, but over the course of the next couple of hours there were no further improvements and only another 19 laps on the board.

The situation became even more bizarre when at one stage the McLaren was seen being pushed down the pitlane with its driver nowhere in sight. Places he would rather be, anyone?

Mind you, the Spaniard still has his sense of humour. Asked if he expects to take Turn 3 flat-out, he told journalists: "With our lack of power, we can take every corner flat-out!" 

Come on, if he didn't laugh he'd be crying.

 

I can see McLaren end up dumping the Honda power unit, most modern contracts will have "a get out of jail clause" built in. Alonso must also be considering his future with McLaren and F1 not even being able to complete testing sessions without engine problems/failures - assuming he actually starts the Australian F1 race, will he see the chequered flag ?                                                                                   

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I can see McLaren end up dumping the Honda power unit, most modern contracts will have "a get out of jail clause" built in. Alonso must also be considering his future with McLaren and F1 not even being able to complete testing sessions without engine problems/failures - assuming he actually starts the Australian F1 race, will he see the chequered flag ?                                                                                   

Your not the only person who thinks that.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/18912124/eric-boullier-says-fernando-alonso-future-depends-mclaren-delivering-competitive-car

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As the article suggests, they are in a very tricky situation. Honda sponsors them to the tune of around $100 million, including sponsorship, driver wages and obviously engine supply. If they were to switch to a customer engine, it would COST them around $17 million. That's a huge difference, money wise but what value would you put on it becoming a viable, competitive car? Would that generate more funds in prize money and sponsorship through exposure?

 

It's all a bit rock and a hard place.

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I suspect the money is something they'd just swallow in the short term. The reputational damage of being off the back for 10 years would be what they'd be worried about, as it would have a more far reaching impact in terms of sponsorship and attracting drivers (and engineers, to a lesser extent).

 

Must be some serious head scratching going on at Honda right now.

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I suspect the money is something they'd just swallow in the short term. The reputational damage of being off the back for 10 years would be what they'd be worried about, as it would have a more far reaching impact in terms of sponsorship and attracting drivers (and engineers, to a lesser extent).

 

Must be some serious head scratching going on at Honda right now.

Continuing failure on the track won't exactly enhance the cachet of the brand when trying to sell their road cars, either.

 

John

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I'm very surprised at Honda given how well their engineers have done over in GP500 and latterly MotoGP. They can build some good shizzle when they put their mind to it.  Maybe they need to get some of the bike lads over to show the F1 chaps how to build an engine :D

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Hey, if they want to give me a 570C or a 650S to help improve their reputation then I'm happy to help!

 

How will mowing your lawn improve their rep...? :jester:

 

15.001.8089.090201t4-850x850.jpg

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It's a long article...

 

Essentially that Honda are not working like a Formula 1 engine supplier and are resisting pressure to do so. They are trying to do everything in-house (and contrast is drawn with Renault, who when facing criticism from Red Bull took Mario Illien onboard and made substantial progress). That they are looking for a long-term solution without understanding that without success there won't be a long-term.

 

The relationship seems to be completely dysfunctional - on both sides. The move from Mercedes to Honda was a huge mistake, and McLaren have been in denial, although that is now changing. And there are Mercedes engines available (those allocated to Manor).

 

If there were to be a split it might save McLaren, it might keep Alonso on board. Might.

 

The tragedy is that the McLaren boast that they have the best chassis on the grid might actually be true.

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I am not sure why he is writing off Bottas so early. The cars are so different to last year, that the learning curve will have been similar for all. "Getting used to the team" surely only applies to his relationship with his engineer and mechanics/pit crew? It is true that Hamilton found it hard to adapt when his crew was changed (last year?), so perhaps he has a point. But I think Bottas may prove to be far better than is generally thought, particularly temperamentally. Mercedes certainly seem to think so.

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For a supposedly professional journalist, he's evidently, and naively, fallen into the trap of accepting the testing pace of all the cars at face value.

 

We won't know how much any of them had dialled back the power output until qualifying.

 

John

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The Japanese often shoot themselves in the foot via national pride .Toyota employing  a rally boss to run an f1 factory  in Germany instead of the UK ensuring few  English speaking top people joined the team .Toyota  taking the engine out of the car with  winning European drivers and putting it into a  car with slower  Japanese drivers at Le mans. Toyota caught cheating and chucked out of the WRC .Honda building a magnesium car despite warnings .Honda failing to buy Team Lotus for a  a few million quid etc.The Japanese are very nationalistic and still dont really get it .With bikes its easier and cheaper and far more ongoing .

      The road cars sell well and are well built and designed .My daughter has a new CRV and doesnt give a toss how well its race engines perform despite being married into motor racing .She did once work for a Japanese team  over here and found it chaotic and really just run by Europeans  mainly Brits .The Japanese owners  didnt have a clue .It all went well as long as they didnt interfere but when they did it was irrational and chaotic.

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