Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

As I said in post #157 - obviously KMag will now fill in for Alonso, but Stoffel Vandoorne continues to be very heavily rumoured to be Will Stevens new partner at Manor F1. McLaren are one of the major creditors who have agreed to defer payments owed to them by Manor Motorsport - the rumour is they'll put one of their drivers in the Manor F1 Team car in lieu of some of that debt.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Not sure how true this is but there is a report Alonso wokeup in 1995 after his crash.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mot...son-crash.html

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Wow, must have been some concussion he had.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Thats why he's missing the first GP.
No doubt he will under more brain scans.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Manor have passed todays crash tests on their modified 2014 chassis, so as long as nothing goes pear shaped they should be on the grid in Melbourne.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

The slimmest lineup ever, 10 teams, 20 drivers, and with Manor as the single back marker team, there will be no battle at the back.

F1 is dying, and there seems little that can be done to halt the decline that began with the loss of big-money tobacco sponsorship, and now alcohol sponsorship is in the firing line.

It's an expensive sport, and needs sponsors with deep pockets, the era of the gentleman racer giving way to the era of the "flying fag packet", and now the slimmer pickings of the car companies racing for prestige, drinks companies, fuel & oil companies

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Manor have tweeted a photo of the lorry leaving the factory carrying their freight to Melbourne - looks like they've done it!

As far as the grid goes for varying reasons we've had smaller - it'll still be bigger than the last three races of last season, it's significantly bigger than USA '05 because of the Michelin safety recall, and also bigger than Monaco '05 because of BAR's ban, and next year Haas Formula will also come on board. Audi are rumoured to be interested - and I've no doubt there will be some knock on benefit from the decision not to include DTM in the super licence process.

I'm not so naive as to think the sport is in rude health, but it's far from dying.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Also FIA might tender for more teams:

Jean Todt - “I am not happy for Marussia and Caterham and I sympathize for them, but it has always happened."

“But in 2016 we have a new team coming,” he added, referring to the arrival of the Gene Haas team from the United States. “And we may make a tender again for one or two teams to encourage teams. And try to reduce the costs.”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/06..._r=1&referrer=

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Personally l would have him ruled out for longer then one grand prix as l think the authorities need to err on the side of caution.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Gary Hartstein said it's at the upper limit of what's just about the right amount of time to miss, and consistent with a three day stay in hospital, but questions will m ed to be asked if he misses anything after Melbourne.

So far I really think it's a case of "nothing to see here, move along".

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Roberto Mehri is Manor's second driver, at least for the start of the season, and a verdict in the Guido Van Der Garde v. Sauber is expected on Wednesday.

Mehri took part in practice for Caterham in the Italian grand prix when they ran in to difficulty and started punting out space in Kobayashi's car so it's fair to assume he brings some reasonable funding with him, but he does have a reasonable record in the lower formulae.

I had wondered if Van Der Garde was relying on compensation from Sauber to pay for the second Manor drive.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

This is getting interesting ...

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12...an-court-rules

Practice starts in less than two days. Sauber are appealing. Clearly the wholesale driver line-up change was related to money - has it backfired?

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

It is Sauber's fault if he hasn't had testing experience, if they knew that him winning his case was at all likely, however slim the chances, he should have been included in the team as a reserve and drove at least one session during testing.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

It's also not a valid argument - there are plenty of drivers who've stepped into a car at short notice without any seat fitting - besides which he WAS there reserve last year so they must have some seat mouldings to work from and it's not as if there's been a huge change in the cars either.

Re: Formula 1 2015 Season thread
 

Ah, OK. Didn't really read the article properly just had a skim through it.