Maldonado. Not of this planet..

[hairyben]

REALIST123 said:

Hard to take seriously the comments of someone who doesn't even understand the weekend timetable and who doesn't realise he's watching a repeat.

To be fair watching maldonardo it always seems like a repeat...

he should go for a clean sweep, and crash in every session, qually and race.

[Some Gump]

Looking ever more rocky for Pastor.

Breakig story just now is that Lotus' gaffer Permane says Maldo's sunday retirement was self inflicted, after Pastor went off and damaged some valves in the clutch system..

Even if Lotus survive to the end of the season, how long til the constant mockery / criticism causes him to go fully postal? Will we even notice if he does?

[scrwright]

You get the feeling he really isn't wanted now, maybe his cash is looking unlikely to appear/has been spent

[StevieBee]

I'd stick Suzie Wolff in the race car. She's probably just as (if not more) capable than Maldonado and the publicity would help them rake in a few quid.

[Some Gump]

StevieBee said:

I'd stick Suzie Wolff in the race car. She's probably just as (if not more) capable than Maldonado and the publicity would help them rake in a few quid.

No superlisence.
Too slow.
Maldo would just sue em, after all he's paid 30m for that seat.

Other than that, great idea =)

[Vaud]

StevieBee said:

I'd stick Suzie Wolff in the race car. She's probably just as (if not more) capable than Maldonado and the publicity would help them rake in a few quid.

As proven by Grosjean, the car can be quite quick.

The real question is - will they make the next race?

[Paul_M3]

StevieBee said:

I'd stick Suzie Wolff in the race car. She's probably just as (if not more) capable than Maldonado

More capable? Really?

At least Maldonado has actually won a race in Formula 1. Despite his (numerous) errors, that still puts him in a relatively small group of people.

Susie Wolff on the other hand has never even managed to win a race in Formula Renault, British Formula Three, or in DTM. (And it wasn't always the car, as her team mates have won races)

[mollytherocker]

Paul_M3 said:

More capable? Really?

At least Maldonado has actually won a race in Formula 1. Despite his (numerous) errors, that still puts him in a relatively small group of people.

Susie Wolff on the other hand has never even managed to win a race in Formula Renault, British Formula Three, or in DTM. (And it wasn't always the car, as her team mates have won races)

She is going nowhere. Its a shame, but there we are.

[StevieBee]

Paul_M3 said:

StevieBee said:

I'd stick Suzie Wolff in the race car. She's probably just as (if not more) capable than Maldonado

More capable? Really?

At least Maldonado has actually won a race in Formula 1. Despite his (numerous) errors, that still puts him in a relatively small group of people.

Susie Wolff on the other hand has never even managed to win a race in Formula Renault, British Formula Three, or in DTM. (And it wasn't always the car, as her team mates have won races)

The suggestion was more ironic that serious. Point being that they are clearly chasing the money with Maldonado rather than points.

[kambites]

StevieBee said:

The suggestion was more ironic that serious. Point being that they are clearly chasing the money with Maldonado rather than points.

Well it has to be both to a degree. I suppose you could say he's the best driven capable of bringing that much money to the team. Hardly a ringing endorsement but the guy is clearly a bloody quick racing driver, just not a very consistent one.

[jamiebae]

Some Gump said:

Looking ever more rocky for Pastor.

Breakig story just now is that Lotus' gaffer Permane says Maldo's sunday retirement was self inflicted, after Pastor went off and damaged some valves in the clutch system..

Even if Lotus survive to the end of the season, how long til the constant mockery / criticism causes him to go fully postal? Will we even notice if he does?

You don't go public with a statement like that unless there's a reason, so something is going on behind the scenes.

I read a few things at the weekend suggesting the following course of events is potentially playing out:

• Red Bull serving notice for 2016 on Renault as their powertrain has not hit contracted performance benchmarks
• Renault accelerating plan to buy Lotus team ready for 2016 season
• Red Bull taking Mercedes power units for 2016, Lotus going back to Renault motors
• Swap deal being brokered with Force India to bring Perez to Renault with Maldonado going the other way for 2016 (Renault don't want Maldonado, but he has a contract for 2016 already)

Not sure how much of this is true but it does make sense.

[marshall100]

Some Gump said:

Maldo would just sue em, after all he's paid 30m for that seat.

He's certainly getting his monies worth in carbon bits alone.

[kambites]

marshall100 said:

Some Gump said:

Maldo would just sue em, after all he's paid 30m for that seat.

He's certainly getting his monies worth in carbon bits alone.

Has anyone with decent knowledge of F1partss costs tried to work out how much of that 30m he's directly taken back from them by crashing?

[longblackcoat]

jamiebae said:

Some Gump said:

Looking ever more rocky for Pastor.

Breakig story just now is that Lotus' gaffer Permane says Maldo's sunday retirement was self inflicted, after Pastor went off and damaged some valves in the clutch system..

Even if Lotus survive to the end of the season, how long til the constant mockery / criticism causes him to go fully postal? Will we even notice if he does?

You don't go public with a statement like that unless there's a reason, so something is going on behind the scenes.

I read a few things at the weekend suggesting the following course of events is potentially playing out:

• Red Bull serving notice for 2016 on Renault as their powertrain has not hit contracted performance benchmarks
• Renault accelerating plan to buy Lotus team ready for 2016 season
• Red Bull taking Mercedes power units for 2016, Lotus going back to Renault motors
• Swap deal being brokered with Force India to bring Perez to Renault with Maldonado going the other way for 2016 (Renault don't want Maldonado, but he has a contract for 2016 already)

Not sure how much of this is true but it does make sense.

Problem with that is that Red Bull know they are then guaranteeing themselves to be a number 2 team - with Mercedes power they get the same spec engines as Merc themselves, but they don't get all the technical insight that goes with it, and which has allowed Mercedes to design such a complete car. But the options are limited - the only power suppliers are Ferrari, Renault, Mercedes and Honda - and realistically if they've fallen out of love with Renault, it's down to Ferrari or Merc.

And if they switch, is that for Red Bull alone, or does it include Toro Rosso as well (who only switched from Ferrari to Renault from 2014) - not sure Mercedes would want to end up supplying 6 of the 10 teams (OK, there'll be 11 next year with Haas) in the championship? At that point you're getting close to Cosworth DFV levels of engine dominance, and pretty much a guarantee of a Mercedes car winning the title until the rules change. Renault certainly won't win much, Honda are hopeless, and Ferrari......occasional flashes of brilliance aside, I can't see them competing for the title in the next few years.

It's not Mercedes fault that they got their act together, developed the best power unit and car, built the best team and hired the best driver (OK, Vettel would probably have been an equally good choice), but the others seem unable to compete at anything close to the same level, which is really sad.

[MiniMan64]

I thought there was a 5 team supply limit for each manufacturer?

[sinbad666]

^^^ redbull could still win with a Mercedes engine, yes they wouldn't have the in depth knowledge of the Mercedes engine but weve seen how close Williams have come with a lot less funding and a chassis that isn't as good as red bulls. I think the advantage Mercedes would have with the engine knowledge would only offer them a slight advantage which could be cleary beaten by a better chassis.

[Schermerhorn]

hairyben said:

REALIST123 said:

Hard to take seriously the comments of someone who doesn't even understand the weekend timetable and who doesn't realise he's watching a repeat.

To be fair watching maldonardo it always seems like a repeat...

he should go for a clean sweep, and crash in every session, qually and race.

If they awarded points for such a clean sweep he would be leading Hamilton in the WDC by now.

[rscott]

longblackcoat said:

jamiebae said:

Some Gump said:

Looking ever more rocky for Pastor.

Breakig story just now is that Lotus' gaffer Permane says Maldo's sunday retirement was self inflicted, after Pastor went off and damaged some valves in the clutch system..

Even if Lotus survive to the end of the season, how long til the constant mockery / criticism causes him to go fully postal? Will we even notice if he does?

You don't go public with a statement like that unless there's a reason, so something is going on behind the scenes.

I read a few things at the weekend suggesting the following course of events is potentially playing out:

• Red Bull serving notice for 2016 on Renault as their powertrain has not hit contracted performance benchmarks
• Renault accelerating plan to buy Lotus team ready for 2016 season
• Red Bull taking Mercedes power units for 2016, Lotus going back to Renault motors
• Swap deal being brokered with Force India to bring Perez to Renault with Maldonado going the other way for 2016 (Renault don't want Maldonado, but he has a contract for 2016 already)

Not sure how much of this is true but it does make sense.

Problem with that is that Red Bull know they are then guaranteeing themselves to be a number 2 team - with Mercedes power they get the same spec engines as Merc themselves, but they don't get all the technical insight that goes with it, and which has allowed Mercedes to design such a complete car. But the options are limited - the only power suppliers are Ferrari, Renault, Mercedes and Honda - and realistically if they've fallen out of love with Renault, it's down to Ferrari or Merc.

And if they switch, is that for Red Bull alone, or does it include Toro Rosso as well (who only switched from Ferrari to Renault from 2014) - not sure Mercedes would want to end up supplying 6 of the 10 teams (OK, there'll be 11 next year with Haas) in the championship? At that point you're getting close to Cosworth DFV levels of engine dominance, and pretty much a guarantee of a Mercedes car winning the title until the rules change. Renault certainly won't win much, Honda are hopeless, and Ferrari......occasional flashes of brilliance aside, I can't see them competing for the title in the next few years.

It's not Mercedes fault that they got their act together, developed the best power unit and car, built the best team and hired the best driver (OK, Vettel would probably have been an equally good choice), but the others seem unable to compete at anything close to the same level, which is really sad.

During the Sky coverage, it was suggested that Williams have a contract for 'Premier Customer' status with Mercedes, so they would receive more assistance than Red Bull are likely to.

[NRS]

sinbad666 said:

^^^ redbull could still win with a Mercedes engine, yes they wouldn't have the in depth knowledge of the Mercedes engine but weve seen how close Williams have come with a lot less funding and a chassis that isn't as good as red bulls. I think the advantage Mercedes would have with the engine knowledge would only offer them a slight advantage which could be cleary beaten by a better chassis.

Redbull obviously have a very good strategy team too. Just look at the races over the last few seasons and most of the time they have taken risks it has paid off. Compare that to Williams, McLaren etc. for example and it's a different picture.

[steevp]

Met Maldonado at the Belgian GP.. ..What a lovely bloke! (Nobody more surprised than me..)