F1 2018

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Fly-on-the-wall behind McLaren's challenging 2017
Amazon TV had cameras followed McLaren's 2017 season and will release a new docuseries entitled "Grand Prix Driver" which will premiere on February 9. Narrated by Oscar-winning actor and F1 fan Michael Douglas, the documentary chronicles McLaren's challenging 2017 season and offers unprecedented insight into the inner workings of F1's second most successful team, including the painful demise of its relationship with Honda. The multi-episode series is written and produced by Manish Pandey, the man behind the production of the famed Senna documentary.

"It’s no secret that this has been the most difficult season in McLaren’s history and it would have been easy for them to close the doors on us," said Pandey. "Instead, the team trusted the Amazon Prime crew to understand the mind-blowing complexity of modern Formula 1 and to recognize that all competitors take falls, but only great champions get up again, fight and win". Grand Prix Driver film crews were allowed access to McLaren's usually closed-off quarters as they followed rookie Stoffel Vandoorne's grueling physical preparation, Zak Browns's challenging quest for sponsorship or the good and the bad of Fernando Alonso's season.

I'll keep an eye open for it appearing on the internet and post episodes as and when they turn up

 

[Limejuice]

I hope "Grand Prix Driver" comes as part of the Amazon Prime package.

 

[1%er]

I hope "Grand Prix Driver" comes as part of the Amazon Prime package.

Yes I believe it does from what I've read

 

[Limejuice]

Yes I believe it does from what I've read

In which case, it's safe to say I shall be watching that as soon as it "drops", as the streaming-media people say.

 

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Dan Gurney RIP
Daniel Sexton Gurney the ex-F1 drives died yesterday following complications with pneumonia. He is the person responsible for the "Gurney Flap" still used in racing today (the small tab projecting from the trailing edge of a wing), he is also the first person recorded to have sprayed champagne while celebrating on the podium and the first racing driver to wear a full face helmet. He started racing in F1 in 1959 and his last F1 race was the British GP in 1970, he took part in 86 Grand Prix in total and won 4. He raced for Ferrari, BRM, Porsche, Lotus, Brabham, Eagle, McLaren. He was also owner of "All American Racers" a team he started with Carroll Shelby.

 

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Williams finally confirm Sergey Sirotkin as 2nd driver
After weeks of speculation Williams has confirmed its 2018 F1 driver line-up with Sirotkin securing his F1 debut campaign as Stroll’s new team-mate with Kubica given the reserve and development driver position. With the official confirmation of its full F1 driver line-up for 2018, Williams moved to explain the reasons behind the team’s decisions. Claire Williams said “The Williams philosophy has always been to promote and develop young talent and Sergey fits right into that ethos, Lance has had a record-breaking debut season, and with a year now under his belt, he will be ready to hit the ground running in 2018. After an extensive driver evaluation process, I am thrilled to have our 2018 line-up finalised, and I’m excited to see what next season brings. We have taken our time to evaluate all the available options, and I’m confident Lance and Sergey can deliver the best results for the team. We have a talented driver line-up for 2018, that we are confident will deliver some exciting results for the team”.

The problem for Williams is they seem to need driver money more than driver talent and I believe this is holding the team back. They haven't won a World Drivers championship for 20 years, they won in 1996 with Damon Hill and again in 1997 with Jacques Villeneuve, they also won the constructors championship in both those years, but they haven't been close to winning any title since 2003. Their philosophy appears to be, spend money on engineering rather than on drivers and they will hopefully then improve to a point where the top drivers will want to join the Williams team, as a customer team fighting against factory teams I'm not sure that is possible nowadays.

Could Ferrari be up for sale?
There are a number of rumors in the Italian press today claiming that Ferrari could again become an independent car company and split from the Fiat/Chrysler group. The rumor is that Sergio Marchionne has put a group of investors together to take over Ferrari when he steps-down as CEO of Fiat/Chrysler at the end of this year. The rumors started when Marchionne confirmed in an interview that he will step-down as CEO of the main company in 2018 but that he wants top remain president of Ferrari. It is mooted that he has put together a $20 billion deal to take over Ferrari.

Marchionne has dismissed the speculation saying “Who puts such stories into circulation? That’s nonsense! Calculate that Ferrari is worth 20 billion on the stock market, so at what price would I have to buy the company? We are talking about 30 billion dollars. I’m an optimist, but I have to buy a lottery ticket for that. We prefer to win the Formula 1 World Championship and make a lot of money with Ferrari”. But the Italian press are saying "there is no smoke without fire" and believe the story to hold some truth.

Having competed a financially strong first half of 2017, the company reported an increase of 17 % to 1.48 billion euros compared to the first half of 2016. Net profit climbed 49 percent to 260 million euros. Couple that with the ambition of Marchionne and a proven track record of success after 15 years with Fiat. He re-floated the ailing car brand Fiat, allied Fiat with Chrysler, re-launched Ferrari brand and is currently the looking into modernising Alfa Romeo. The involvement in Formula 1 as the title sponsor of Sauber is part an obvious part of that process. Would the next step be to partition off Ferrari as a stand alone brand?

I'm not really sure about this story, but Sergio Marchionne is the person best positioned to pull off such a deal being the CEO of the parent company and also president of Ferrari, also with its history the Ferrari brand would not be short of people willing to invest as has been shown since it was floated. A quick look at the Nasdaq shows that over the last 52 weeks, at their lowest point they were down at $59.5 but now are up 98% to around $118.

 

[Limejuice]

One assumes that any wrinkles with Martini have been smoothed out.

I think that booze company + Russian = oceans of sales east of the Urals.

 

[1%er]

One assumes that any wrinkles with Martini have been smoothed out.

I think that booze company + Russian = oceans of sales east of the Urals.

Sirotkin is 22 I think, so at least he'll be able to wear the Martini logos on his overalls at every race, unlike Stroll who can not advertise the brand in countries where the legal drinking age is 21

It was reported that the contract with Martini had a clause specifying that at least one driver had to be over 25, this was reported when Bottas (age 26/7 at the time) left the team and a reason sighted for Massa replacing him over Wehrlein at Williams (Mercedes wanted Williams to take their young driver Wehrlein), but Williams have now stated there is no such clause.

The same story came about when Force India had Johnnie Walker as a sponsor, I think the real problem for having young drivers racing in teams sponsored by alcohol companies is that some countries have laws that dictate the minimum age of someone able to be in adverts/or advertise alcoholic drinks. For example this picture taken at the FIA press conference last year where Stroll is sitting next to his team mate Felipe with no Martini logos on his shirt or cap.

 

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Whitmarsh is back on the scene: Whitmarsh drafted in to advise on cost cap | PlanetF1

 

[Limejuice]

Whitmarsh is back on the scene: Whitmarsh drafted in to advise on cost cap | PlanetF1

There are a fair few unflattering comments about ol' Marty on that link.

He always came across as a decent guy to me.

 

[cybershot]

There are a fair few unflattering comments about ol' Marty on that link.

He always came across as a decent guy to me.

Ditto, DIdn't like the way he got pushed at Mclaren either, but in hindsight, it was probably well timed, means he left with reputation in tact before the Honda shit storm.

 

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Some car launch dates
Mercedes will reveal its Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 EQ Power+ at Silverstone on February 22, it is expected to undertake a 100km shakedown test. The event is the same day as Ferrari's Maranello launch. The following day (23), McLaren will unveil its Renault-powered MCL33. On Sunday February 25, the day before testing begins, Toro Rosso will launch its new Honda powered 2018 car.

More on Haas and Maserati
Sergio Marchionne has repeated his hint that a deal between Haas and Maserati could be on the cards. Last month the Ferrari president sealed the deal on a title sponsorship between Fiat Chrysler brand Alfa Romeo and Sauber.

Now, Marchionne has his eyes on a similar tie-up, with talks between Haas and Maserati said to be taking place. Speaking to Italian reporters at the Detroit auto show, he was asked if he is thinking about sending Maserati into Formula E. His reply was "I'm not so sure. In terms of a possible cooperation, it is maybe better to try to organise a joint project with Haas in formula one, it would be a good project". He also said the next step for Alfa Romeo could be a move into Indycar, in partnership with Dallara.

Vietnam can be added to the list of possible venues
According to a report in Forbes, a street race around the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi, was on the agenda at a meeting of the Formula One Promoters Association, the body which represents grand prix organisers. The South East Asian country has previously been linked to an F1 race deal and its addition to the calendar will bolster the sport’s position on the continent after Malaysia staged its final grand prix last season.

Bernie has previously claimed that he rejected a lucrative offer to stage a Vietnam Grand Prix before he was ousted, it was reported that Vietnam had offered FOM around $391.2m for a 10-year race deal. I believe that Liberty Media's contract with regulatory body the FIA (unless it has changed from the deal they had with Bernie) is for a maximum of 25 races per season, so 4 more than the 21-race schedule for this season, but as is often the case in F1 things are not as clear as they first appear, because while FOM has a 25 race deal with the FIA, FOM also has deals with the teams and some of those deals have a clause saying that the teams "require majority consent" for the calendar to be more than 20 races. For sure Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull Racing have such clauses as they stated that when the calendar went from 20 to 21 races previously, it isn't clear if all teams have this clause.

So we can add to the list of races that have been talked about being added to the F1 calendar since Liberty Media took control of the sport, they are;
Tunisia, USA (Miami, New York, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Daytona, California, Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway), Portugal, Macau, Norway, Denmark, UK (Brand Hatch), Korea, Turkey, South Africa, Argentina, Netherlands (Zandvoort, Assen) and Hanoi Vietnam.

 

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Could Cosworth join with Aston Martin
Wouldn't it be great if Cosworth joined with Aston Martin and Red Bull, they have all had close ties in the past and still do. The Aston Martin Valkyrie is powered by a Cosworth V-12 and when Red Bull first entered Formula 1 they did so with a Cosworth engine. If Aston Martin are serious about getting into F1 they couldn't find a better partner than Cosworth.

Cosworthm which last supplied engines in 2012, has a total of 176 wins in F1, second only to Ferrari so they have the pedigree. Such a tie-up would fit perfectly with Liberty Media's vision for the future of F1, they have made it very clear that they want the 2021 technical regulations to make it possible for independent engine manufacturers to compete with the likes of Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari, that is the main reason behind the budget cap of $150 million a year. Cosworth power-trains boss Bruce Wood says they want to return to F1 as an engine supplier, but if they did that on there own and not in a partnership they would be unlikely to be able to supply an engine before 2022.

Have Toro Rosso sacked Brendan Gilhome
There has been no statement from the team or Gilhome, but rumor has it that the head of aerodynamics has gone and his number two Ben Mallock has replaced him. Gilhome from Australian first come into F1 back in 2005 where he spent 5 years with Sauber before moving on to Mercedes in 2010, where he was a principal aerodynamicist, he did the primary aerodynamic development of the 2014 Mercedes, which won the World Championship with Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel.

Could this be the look of the 2018 Alfa Romeo

Designer Sean Bull worked his magic once again, this time with Sauber, offering the Swiss outfit a striking idea of what its 2018 C33 charger should look like. Sauber will be hoping for big things this season having spent last year running with an old power-unit, in 2018 the team will be running the current Ferrari power-unit, albeit badged as an Alfa Romeo.

 

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Sir Stirling Moss has decided to retire from public life
Motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss has decided to retire from public life following a long illness. A statement from his son said Moss had made the decision because of his "slow recovery" from health problems. The 88-year-old spent 134 days in hospital after suffering a chest infection while on holiday in Singapore in December 2016.

Moss is widely regarded as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, even though he did not win the World Championship. He won 16 of the 66 grands prix in which he competed from 1951-66, was the first British F1 driver to win his home race. He won a total of 212 races of the 529 events he entered in categories across motorsport. Among his greatest victories were the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, which he won in a Lotus against the faster Ferraris, and the 1955 Mille Miglia, when he set a new course record in the famous 1,000-mile race around Italy.

He famously lost out on the F1 title in 1958 to countryman Mike Hawthorn after vouching for his rival and preventing him being disqualified when he was accused of reversing on track in the late-season Portuguese Grand Prix. Moss was effectively forced to retire from top-level motorsport in 1962 after a crash at Goodwood left him in a coma for a month and partially paralysed for six months.

Free to air F1 in the UK
2018 is the last year where Sky is committed to its free to air deal with channel 4 and it is unclear where F1 will be shown free to air from 2019. The good news for those who don't watch Sky because of Murdoch is that he is selling his interest in Sky to the Disney group. Liberty media's contract with Sky requires them to show the British GP live and race highlights on a free to air channel. This deal is believed to have cost Sky $1 billion, while the Sky deal with channel 4 is thought to have cost them around $24 million a year. Sky has a very interesting deal with Liberty Media, as unlike all other deals for F1, Liberty Media don't have a say in who Sky decides will show its free to air races, this is very unusual as all other FOM TV deals say that FOM will decide what free to air channel will be used.

There is an indication that Sky could put its free to air coverage on one of its own free to air channels. This appears to be what they are going to do in Italy. News from Italy seem to claiming that the state broadcaster RAI will no longer carry F1 in 2018 and Sky Italy will carry its free to air commitment on TV8 a free sky channel. So it may be the case that to watch any F1 in the UK after this season you will need a Sky box even if it is only to watch Free to air channels, but as Murdoch will not have any interest in Sky it could be OK.

Formula One strategy group
There was a meeting of the Formula One strategy group last Thursday but there appears to be very little news on any decisions taken, if any, it seem that on the agenda some of the topics were;

Changing starts times for individual European races, adjusting them individually for the venues. This is believed to be to stop them clashing with other sporting events taking place, such as the World Cup, Super Bowl etc,)

Changing the timing of the first free practice session and the FIA press conferences will also be debated.

Another point of discussion will be to separate the drivers weight from the minimum final car weight. They are thought to be introducing a minimum weight for the driver, so cars with light-weight drivers don't have an advantage when it comes to the weight of the car, as now it is the combined weight that is taken into account, this allows some teams more leeway is positioning the moveable weights in the car.

Finally, long term direction of aerodynamics with the creation of a new working group plus the positioning of the drivers’ names and numbers on their cars.

 

[1%er]

News from strategy group meeting
As mentioned in post 44 above a number of items were discussed at the strategy group last week, some news on bodywork changes and driver and car weight has come out.

Driver and car weight;
The FIA is finalizing an official rule change that will require drivers to meet a minimum weight for the 2019 Formula 1 season. The regulation change will implement a minimum seat+driver weight of 80 kilograms, or approximately 176 pounds. Also on its own, the car will need to weigh at least 660kg, a 6kg increase from current standards, the Formula 1 Technical Working Group will look at the new rules and report back to the FIA before a finalized proposal is sent to the teams before the rule is introduced prior to the start of the 2019 season. The weight of the car + Driver went up last season because the cars had bigger wheels and tyres, it will also increase this season because of the Halo.

Bodywork changes;
This week's meeting of the Strategy Group saw the teams agree on a number of changes to bodywork design for 2019, all with the intention of optimizing sponsorship 'real estate' for the teams as opposed to improving the racing. In addition to bargeboards being lower, thereby allowing better visibility of the side of the cars, there will be a mandatory space at the top of the rear wing endplates in order that sponsors logos are not compromised by aero devices such as louvers.

Drivers pay
Below is said to be a list of drivers wages paid by the teams, it was put together by TMZ (who I am told are a celebrity news website, so I cannot vouch for how accurate they are). Drivers also have personal sponsorship, so their income will be much greater than shown here. Personally I don't believe that Vettel gets $10 more than Hamilton and I also think that Verstappen's money is post his new contract while Ricciardo's will be prior to his new contract (if he signs one).
Lewis Hamilton $50m
Valtteri Bottas $12m
Sebastian Vettel $60m
Kimi Raikkonen $40m
Daniel Ricciardo $6m
Max Verstappen $10m
Sergio Perez $5m
Esteban Ocon $3m
Lance Stroll $1.8m
Sergey Sirotkin not reported
Nico Hulkenberg $5.5m
Carlos Sainz $750,000
Pierre Gasly $400,000
Brendon Hartley $350,000
Romain Grosjean $4.45m
Kevin Magnussen $2.5m
Fernando Alonso $30m
Stoffel Vandoorne $7m
Marcus Ericsson $500,000
Charles Leclerc $150,000

 

[Limejuice]

Presumably, the 80 Kg minimum for drivers includes helmet, gloves, lead-lined Pampers, etc. as well as the seat.

I can see a few of the smaller guys being quite a bit less than that.

 

[1%er]

Force India will change its name
Force India boss Otmar Szafnauer has confirmed that the team will change its name before the start of the 2018 season, he claims that the new name will be announced at the launch of the new car, which is expected to be on February 25. It was thought that the team would be renamed Force One, but Liberty Media the owners of FOM said it could cause confusion, as the name may be shortened to F1.

The team had a number of names and announced some of them in the media (these include Force One Racing, Force One Grand Prix, Force One Team, Force One Technologies, Force One Brand and Force One Hospitality), which lead to all those names quickly being brought up by website squatters (you'd have thought someone in the team would have pointed out the likelihood of that happening). A company was set up back in November called "Formula One Racing & Creative Engineering Ltd" but a week later that name was changed to "Force Formula One Team Ltd" [name change shown in filing history], likely to just be called Force in commentary etc.

A search at companies house shows that Force Formula One Team Ltd is at the same address as the Force India team and the name of the only director listed at the moment is Robert George Fernley. Bob Fernley is the deputy team principal of the Force India Formula One team.

Before the team can change their name they will have to have any new name signed off by the F1 Commission. It should also be noted that one of the directors of Force India, Dr Thiruvannamalai Lakshmi Kanthan also has a number of new companies in his name any of which could become the teams new name, I guess we will have to wait and see.

F1 regulations
There is a very interesting article about how Formula One's rules and regulations are written, also who are members and representatives on the F1 Commission and World motor sport council. There is also a good article about Ferrari's Veto here.

 

[1%er]

Force India and Sauber have dropped EU complaint
Both F1 teams lodged a complaint with the EU in September 2015 amid concerns about revenue distribution, the strategy group and rule-making when F1 was run by commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone. Both teams announced their decision to drop the complaint "with immediate effect" in a press release Today [Thursday 25 Jan], citing renewed faith in how F1 is governed under new CEO Chase Carey.

The Statement basically says "Liberty Media have brought a new culture of transparency to the sport and illustrates willingness to debate fundamental issues such as the distribution of the prize fund monies, cost control and engine regulations. We are encouraged and reassured by the even-handed and fair negotiating approach taken by the new management of Formula 1 to all the teams and their issues. While the concerns leading to the complaint were fully justified, we believe this new approach provides the necessary degree of assurance that our concerns will be looked at objectively, and we prefer to resolve the issues facing the sport through dialogue rather than a legal dispute. We want to support this transformational process in F1 and have thus resolved to withdraw our complaint with immediate effect".

While the teams have withdrawn their complaint, it is yet to be seen if the EU will stop its investigation into "anti-competitive practices" within F1. It is highly likely that the complaint will now also be dropped by the EU as MEPs said at the time "it was for teams to complain not for them to look for problems", but English MEP Anneliese Dodds did lead the change against what she believed were F1s anti-competitive practices within the sport, so we'll have to wait and see.

Free to air F1
While speculating above about the future of free to air races in the UK, I mentioned that Sky Italy maybe going to show the free to air races on one of their free channels now that the national broadcaster Rai will no longer carry F1. This has caused a massive outcry in Italy where F1 is second only to football as a sport watched on TV. It seems that Sky Italy have signed an "exclusive rights" contract with FOM taking then through to 2020. The old contract included Rai transmitting nine live grands prix, along with highlights of the remaining races, the new contract stipulates that at least four of the 21 GPs of the 2018 Formula One season including the Italian Grand Prix at Monza will be also broadcast live free to air on the TV8 channel (a free sky channel), where the remaining races will be available on a delayed basis. This has not gone down well in Italy with sports fan, so maybe pressure on their politicians will change this, but it is unlikely and surely an indication of what will happen in the UK after this season when the channel 4 contract ends.

Two rumors I've heard
The first is that Silverstone is currently being resurface, I was told this by a friend who works near the circuit. This is not an inexpensive investment and makes me wonder if talks between the BRDC and Liberty Media are going well to extend the contract to keep the British GP in Northamptonshire past 2019.

The second is that teams are looking at adding wings to the rear of the car lower than the now outlawed T-wing that appeared last season. The T-wings appeared because of a loophole in the regulations that opened up because teams were allowed to use the sharkfin engine covers. There was a rule about "no bodywork" higher than the rear wing and the top of the engine cover, but as the sharkfin was considered part of the engine cover teams exploited that new space, as the engine cover was higher.

The new rule that bans the T-wing sets a specified triangular area where no bodywork can be, but there is a small area below this triangle that is still available for teams to exploit, it will be interesting to see what the rear of the new cars look like.

I'd also expect that teams will find more downforce this season, as they should have a much better understanding of the performance aspects of the new aero rules that were introduced last year.

 

[cybershot]

The karting bit is mildly entertaining.

 

[Limejuice]

^^^

- Can I have an autograph?
- What's your name?
- Jenson.
- Is that with a G..?

 

[1%er]

Later race start times in the works
Formula One Management are considering pushing back the start time of the vast majority of races in 2018 in a bid to improve television viewing figures. European day races usually start at 2pm local time, but Liberty are mulling over the idea of moving it to later in the afternoon to 3.10pm for the upcoming season. The proposal was reportedly discussed in a recent meeting with television broadcasters as part of a plan to shake-up the entire race weekend timetable with practice and qualifying sessions also moving back. The likes of Singapore, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi are said to be staying in their night slots.

It is also believed that the French Grand Prix will be moved even further back to 4.10pm to avoid a clash with England's World Cup group stage match against Panama. So European times for races weekends could look like this;
FP1: 11-12.30pm
FP2: 3pm-4:30pm
FP3: 12pm
Qualifying: 3pm
Race: 3:10pm

Williams announce early launch date
The Grove-based team have opted for a launch date of February 15, giving everyone a glimpse of the FW41 a full week before Mercedes and Ferrari take the covers off their 2018 challengers. Williams, who finished fifth in the Constructors' Standings in 2017 and over a 100 points behind Force India in fourth, will launch the FW41 at a special event in London.

Half of the field have now pencilled in dates, with the 2018 launch dates announced so far as follows:
Feb 15: Williams
Feb 22: Mercedes, Ferrari
Feb 23: McLaren
Feb 25: Toro Rosso

Dutch Grand Prix news
FIA safety delegate Charlie Whiting paid the Assen circuit a visit last week as the venue mulls a bid to host a Dutch Grand Prix. Bringing Formula 1 back to Holland, which enjoyed its last championship race in 1985 at Zandvoort, is an enticing prospect for the country, and for Liberty Media, given the massive popularity of local hero Max Verstappen. Historical venue Zandvoort is currently conducting a feasibility to gauge the economics associated with a Dutch Grand Prix.

But Assen may now have the upper hand following Whiting's visit last Friday and his subsequent assessment of the track's infrastructure. The 4.5-kilometer course, which enjoys a capacity of 110,000 spectators and hosts a MotoGP event each year, would not require significant improvement to receive the mandatory Grade 1 license from the FIA.

Whiting pinpointed changes to kerbs, crash barriers, the need to install Tecpro safety barriers and a few alterations to the track's layout. The rather positive review follows the track's own assessment via computer simulation and moves Assen a step closer to the dream of bringing F1 back to Holland.

 

[cybershot]

Any recommendations for a google calendar with the races in that gets updated religiously every year that i can add to my own calendar?

 

[spitfire]

Any recommendations for a google calendar with the races in that gets updated religiously every year that i can add to my own calendar?

I think I used the official F1 last year. Maybe....

 

[1%er]

Sauber launch date
In preparation for its first season in Alfa Romeo colours, Sauber has set a launch date of February 20 for its 2018 car. The new Sauber, known as the C37, will be the first launched under Alfa Romeo's title sponsor deal, which will see the car decked out in a new livery for 2018. After spending all of the 2017 season using year-old engines, Sauber will upgrade to an up-to-date Ferrari power unit for the start of 2018.

Alfa Romeo has a rich history in motor sport, winning the first two Formula One world championships in 1950 and 1951 with Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio. The company last withdrew from F1 in 1985.

Confirmed 2018 car launches
February 15 - Williams
February 20 - Sauber
February 22 - Ferrari
February 22 - Mercedes
February 23 - McLaren
February 25 - Toro Rosso

The 10 channel 4 live races in 2018
In the final year of their three-year contract, Channel 4 will broadcast 10 rounds of the 2018 Formula 1 season live. Highlights of the other 11 rounds will be televised. The Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Monaco, Austrian, British, Belgian, Singapore, Japanese, United States and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix have been selected by the terrestrial channel for live viewing. From 2019, Sky Sports will have an exclusive contract to show Formula 1 in the United Kingdom, with the future of free-to-air Formula 1 in the UK under serious threat.

 

[cybershot]

Fernando Alonso: Two-time F1 champion to race at Le Mans in 2018 & 2019

 

[cybershot]

Any recommendations for a google calendar with the races in that gets updated religiously every year that i can add to my own calendar?

I used F1Fanatic's if anyone else wanted to know.

 

[1%er]

RIP Ron Walker
Ron Walker, the man who established the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and was the chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation for many years has died at the age of 78, he had been suffering from cancer for several years. It was Walker, along with Victorian state premier Jeff Kennett, who swooped in and grabbed the Grand Prix from Adelaide. He was a close friend and ally of Bernie Ecclestone, he was also a long-standing member of the Formula 1 Commission.

Renault launch
Renault is set to launch its 2018 Formula 1 car online on February the 20th, the same day as Sauber. Nico Hulkenberg will be joined by Carlos Sainz in its driver lineup for 2018, as it targets moving up from its sixth place finish in last year's constructors' championship.

The Enstone based outfit's managing director Cyril Abiteboul believes this year will pay off good results considering the recent investments and infrastructure changes made by Renault F1, he is reported as saying "We have a big job to accomplish and as far as I can see we are aligned with that, the infrastructure is coming up, people are coming up, the commercial side I know it is not super exciting, but it is also important to be able to finance that. We have had a very successful campaign of acquisition of new partners and they believe in the project, they can see the improvement at the factory but also at the track".
Confirmed 2018 car launches
February 15 - Williams
February 20 - Sauber
February 20 - Renault
February 22 - Ferrari
February 22 - Mercedes
February 23 - McLaren
February 25 - Toro Rosso

Fernando Alonso will compete in Le Mans 24 Hours
Alonso will be replacing Anthony Davidson for Toyota Gazoo Racing for the World Endurance Championship super-season in both 2018 and 2019 it is claimed. I suspect the 2019 race will be dependent on the F1 calendar for that season, while FOM try not to clash with Le Mans they are also looking to expand their own race calendar. so things could be tight. Alonso will now fully commit to the upcoming WEC season, with the Spaniard only due to miss the Japanese round at Fuji in October as it clashes with the F1 Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas.

Alonso is clearly still looking to achieve the triple crown, but its still looking a distant ambition. While he has won Monaco twice, back in 2006 and 2007, his efforts in the Daytona 24 Hours race haven't really been spectacular. Last season he retired with engine failure and last weekend he finished 38th, 90 laps behind the winner. I wish him all the best in his endeavors, he is clearly going to have a very busy season.

 

[Limejuice]

I wouldn't mind getting Alonso's Air Miles.

 

[weltweit]

Fernando Alonso: Two-time F1 champion to race at Le Mans in 2018 & 2019

I was at Le Mans when Schumacher was racing a Mercedes, the car was noticeably faster when he was in it. Good luck to Alonso .. it is a tough race

 

[yardbird]

Space wasting, but anyway.
Just announced - No more grid girls.
You heard it here first.