F1 Most liked posts in thread: 2015 - F1

Assuming all this is true, Marussia could be a feeder team while Red Bull with Merc engines would likely be serious competition. And I read the decision wasn't made by either Wolff or Lauda but the head of Daimler who didn't like the sound of gifting title contention status to another team. That wouldn't surprise me, esp. given the amount of money they've put into getting where they are. I'm sure they're hoping for a title run at least as long as Red Bull's.

 

I keep reading this stuff and I still can't figure out why Audi would want anything to do with F1 in its current state. Are they about to give up on sports car prototype racing? I'm having trouble believing F1 is so much more lucrative from a marketing standpoint that it's worth spending more money for the privilege of working within a much more restrictive development window in a series with less relevance to their road car business.

 

That's the only part of this that makes sense to me.

If the Audi/RB deal is in the works, I wonder how comfortable VW and Audi are with the thought that they'd be fielding an Audi branded car with a Ferrari engine (almost certain replacement for the Renault lump for at least the 2016 season). This means the naming convention used by many would be Audi-Ferrari.

 

Force India announced today they re-signed Perez for 2016 so rosters continue to firm up.

A couple days ago someone at Grand Prix Times took a swing at odds on what the 2016 grid will look like (before the Perez announcement).

Of course, there's still some chance Red Bull will follow through on their recent threat to pull out after 2015 (Toro Rosso as well) if Ferrari don't agree to give them the same engines the Ferrari works drivers get. A threat made because someone from Ferrari recently said all their customer teams get engines that are detuned something like 30-40 hp. If that happens, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Verstappen and Sainz will all be looking for work. Might be making Haas wonder just how quickly they should move to sign Grosjean.....

What might the 2016 grid look like? We take a look... (grandprixtimes.com)

 

Here's something new. Force India fitted a camera to a nosecone to test front wing deflection. They're probably not learning much yet though, Suzuka is soaking wet and very little running happened during FP1.





Also, looks like Merc left their swoopy rear wing at home.

 

Yeah, it's wet.

 

I had similar thoughts. I was genuinely surprised by that act and decided maybe he finally left his petulant years behind. Then I remembered that last year at RB when he seemed to gradually accept his fate and stop making excuses and laying blame and you could see him appearing to mature in the space of a season.