*** The official Formula One 2015-16 off season thread ***

[BigBen]

Vaud said:

3 day general admission is $225. Turn 15, $775.

Both prices from a site offering 2016 tickets which aren't actually on sale yet (IIRC) but sound about right.

Yep, just had a look I paid $325 for 3 days of grandstand in 2014, so yes more than NASCAR but cheap vs. a European race.

[ajprice]

Damon Hill: Williams won't beat Mercedes or Ferrari with Mercedes engines, so they should use Honda http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12476/10134114/da...

I can see what he means about not beating Mercedes with their own engine, but after McLaren last year, its still a bit early to go Honda. Honda might get it together, but its still optimistic to think they'll be winning any time soon.

[Scuffers]

ajprice said:

Damon Hill: Williams won't beat Mercedes or Ferrari with Mercedes engines, so they should use Honda http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12476/10134114/da...

I can see what he means about not beating Mercedes with their own engine, but after McLaren last year, its still a bit early to go Honda. Honda might get it together, but its still optimistic to think they'll be winning any time soon.

Sorry, but I simply don;t agree with this theory.

if Merc were supplying sub-standard engines then yes, it would be valid, but they are not, the engine the customer teams get are the same, as policed by the FIA to finite detail.

Yes, you can then go on about mapping this that and the other, but the teams are not totally blind to what the engine guys are doing, and where's the advantage for Merc to cripple it's own customers?

Add to this the ability of the customer teams to design a better car, with their own cooling systems/packaging, it simply does not stack up.

Yes, in the past (long gone past) this was a problem, but in the current environment, I simply don't believe it's an issue.

as for Damon suggesting they go with Honda, that's just laughable, going from the best engine available to quite clearly the worst (by some way) is just stupid thinking.

Edited by Scuffers on Monday 18th January 08:25

[anonymous-user]

Vaud said:

Well Texas / Mexico really hurt Texas this year.. California to Texas or Mexico isn't that far by US standards so you would need some smart scheduling...

Brazil
US - California
Argentina
US - Texas
US - Canada

Maybe ?

Canada isn't in the US, it's a country.

3 regional championships is a dumb idea for a world championship.

[Vaud]

jsf said:

Canada isn't in the US, it's a country.

I know it isn't but it is for the purposes of travel inside North America

[anonymous-user]

Try telling border control that one

[Scuffers]

best way to ps off a Canadian, call them yanks!

[Vaud]

I know!

[FW18]

ajprice said:

Damon Hill: Williams won't beat Mercedes or Ferrari with Mercedes engines, so they should use Honda http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12476/10134114/da...

I can see what he means about not beating Mercedes with their own engine, but after McLaren last year, its still a bit early to go Honda. Honda might get it together, but its still optimistic to think they'll be winning any time soon.

I get his theory with moving away from getting engines from a factory run team. But in my eyes the best bet would be to try and get into bed with another car maker like they did wth Renault and BMW many years ago, rather than fighting with Ron over Honda engines.

[Mr_Thyroid]

FW18 said:

ajprice said:

Damon Hill: Williams won't beat Mercedes or Ferrari with Mercedes engines, so they should use Honda http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12476/10134114/da...

I can see what he means about not beating Mercedes with their own engine, but after McLaren last year, its still a bit early to go Honda. Honda might get it together, but its still optimistic to think they'll be winning any time soon.

I get his theory with moving away from getting engines from a factory run team. But in my eyes the best bet would be to try and get into bed with another car maker like they did wth Renault and BMW many years ago, rather than fighting with Ron over Honda engines.

This is the reason McLaren went to Honda... surely McLaren are essentially the Honda works team so with this logic what would be the benefit to Williams?

[anonymous-user]

ajprice said:

Damon Hill: Williams won't beat Mercedes or Ferrari with Mercedes engines, so they should use Honda [url]http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12476/10134114/damon-hill-feels-williams-should-swap-mercedes-engines-for-honda[x/url]

I can see what he means about not beating Mercedes with their own engine, but after McLaren last year, its still a bit early to go Honda. Honda might get it together, but its still optimistic to think they'll be winning any time soon.

I think Damon's right; Willian's won't be beating Mercedes any time soon..........

[MissChief]

The rules do state that this year all the engines on the grid must be identical from the same Manufacturer. last Season Mercedes said they did updates for the engine in the back of their own car but didn't pass those updates on. This year they won't be able to do that.

[suffolk009]

It's the software and installation. The other teams are playing catchup on that.

[Scuffers]

REALIST123 said:

ajprice said:

Damon Hill: Williams won't beat Mercedes or Ferrari with Mercedes engines, so they should use Honda [url]http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12476/10134114/damon-hill-feels-williams-should-swap-mercedes-engines-for-honda[x/url]

I can see what he means about not beating Mercedes with their own engine, but after McLaren last year, its still a bit early to go Honda. Honda might get it together, but its still optimistic to think they'll be winning any time soon.

I think Damon's right; Willian's won't be beating Mercedes any time soon..........

yes, they won't be beating Merc, but it's not the engine that's stopping them.

[stemll]

Otispunkmeyer said:

I have heard of Haas (if it is indeed Haas as in Newman-Haas Racing?) but don't really know about their successes or anything. Is it an all-american outfit (remember how bad that turned out last time).?

Haas F1 is Gene Haas (as in Stewart-Hass that races in NASCAR and has 32 wins in 1087 race starts. Newman/Haas is (was) Carl Haas and they raced in CART/IRL but stopped in 2012. The two are not related

[EnglishTony]

MissChief said:

The rules do state that this year all the engines on the grid must be identical from the same Manufacturer.

Isn't the Ferrari power unit in the 2016 Torro Rosso a non-current spec?

[MissChief]

EnglishTony said:

MissChief said:

The rules do state that this year all the engines on the grid must be identical from the same Manufacturer.

Isn't the Ferrari power unit in the 2016 Torro Rosso a non-current spec?

I think the ruling states 'any and all upgrades must be made available to all teams running the same specification engines' or similar.

Found it in the regs.

Other than any parts agreed by the FIA at their absolute discretion to be solely associated with power unit installation with different teams, each manufacturer may supply only one specification of homologated power unit during any given calendar year, subject to any changes permitted by the FIA in accordance with the procedure set out in 2) above and 5) below.

[Wh00sher]

MissChief said:

I think the ruling states 'any and all upgrades must be made available to all teams running the same specification engines' or similar.

Found it in the regs.

Other than any parts agreed by the FIA at their absolute discretion to be solely associated with power unit installation with different teams, each manufacturer may supply only one specification of homologated power unit during any given calendar year, subject to any changes permitted by the FIA in accordance with the procedure set out in 2) above and 5) below.

It did, but there was a press release from the FIA in December last year

FIA said:

A statement released from Wednesday's Paris meeting of governing body the FIA's World Motor Sport Council read: "Power Units homologated in previous seasons may now be re-homologated. Previously no manufacturer could supply more than one specification of PU.

"The World Motor Sport Council was also advised that the FIA had agreed for Ferrari to supply a fourth customer team with a 2015-specification Power Unit in 2016."

[Scuffers]

Wh00sher said:

It did, but there was a press release from the FIA in December last year

FIA said:

A statement released from Wednesday's Paris meeting of governing body the FIA's World Motor Sport Council read: "Power Units homologated in previous seasons may now be re-homologated. Previously no manufacturer could supply more than one specification of PU.

"The World Motor Sport Council was also advised that the FIA had agreed for Ferrari to supply a fourth customer team with a 2015-specification Power Unit in 2016."

so, who is the 4th? Torro? is that for cost or competition reasons?

[BarbaricAvatar]

Scuffers said:

Wh00sher said:

It did, but there was a press release from the FIA in December last year

FIA said:

A statement released from Wednesday's Paris meeting of governing body the FIA's World Motor Sport Council read: "Power Units homologated in previous seasons may now be re-homologated. Previously no manufacturer could supply more than one specification of PU.

"The World Motor Sport Council was also advised that the FIA had agreed for Ferrari to supply a fourth customer team with a 2015-specification Power Unit in 2016."

so, who is the 4th? Torro? is that for cost or competition reasons?

Yes, Toro Rosso will be running 2015-spec Ferrari's and yes it'll be for competition reasons. Likely a 2016-spec deal was never even in a pocket, let alone on the table. Weird that they refer to Ferrari themselves as Ferrari engine customers but i guess that's what they meant as there are only 3 non-Ferrari teams receiving Ferrari engines.