I still do. Obviously their talent commands those salaries. Do those figures take their personal sponsorship deals into account? Bet they'd be willing to take a pay cut to have a front running car.
Those are their base salaries, not including performance bonuses or endorsements. Jenson took a €7m pay cut from 2014 just to stay with McHonda.
There is a new addition on F1i.com exclusive-pictures-of-the-mercedes-power-unit that shows some great shots of the Merc power unit. I noticed that the plenum looks huge compare to the rest of the engine on the other 3 earlier in the series. Which made me think could they be using it to store boosted air? I'm sure there is some with more knowledge about this than me so let me know if I'm off base. If the volume of the plenum is large than it needs to be for immediate needs. Then it would have left over boosted air when the throttle is closed. On turbo street cars that air gets bled off either back into the turbo or atmosphere. But the F1 cars close the valves when off throttle so the boosted air could stay in the plenum until the throttle is opened back up. This could provide instant boosted air faster than even the electric turbo spool up. If it works then they would need less energy to spin the turbo. That energy then can be used for the drive motor. Thoughts?
Interesting chart.....how does one gain 10 first lap places when on the pole or starting in second in every race?
That chart can be very confusing. I don't know why I didn't see it until now. The numbers represent actual position numbers rather than number of positions gained or lost. In other words, if you start on pole and lose a position on the first lap the number representing your position in the field goes up from P1 to P2, therefore a +1 on the chart. Positive numbers represent moving backward on the first lap. Moving up from P18 to P15 => -3. Yup, it's backward, poor chartsmanship. They should have switched the signs around to represent positions gained, would have made a lot more sense. So, though it looks the other way around, this says Alonso and Hulkenberg gained more first lap positions than anyone else.
That's probably a clue re Stevens' number as well, given there was usually at least one higher qualifier starting behind the Manors on penalty. But it doesn't explain the huge disparity between him and Mehri (+ Rossi).
Yes, but how many of those place gains were due to other cars wrecking and dropping out? When you're in last place, you gain places anytime anyone ahead of you drops out, not true for the rest of the field that's ahead of Maldonado.... :biggrin5: