Alonso to leave Ferrari?

[RYH64E]

Chrisgr31 said:

There is of course a suggestion that the Mercedes F1 team are under pressure to up their came or the Board will pull the rug away. What affect does this possibility have on deliberations?

I would've thought that Mercedes would be happy with this year's performance, surely it would be unrealistic to have expected more? They're second in the Constructors Championship (up from fifth last year), with arguably the best overall driver line up (imo anyway), and have good prospects for success with next year's engine.

Hamilton must be happy with his move from McLaren, if any team should feel under pressure it's McLaren, they've had a shocking season.

[Kickstart]

Outside of Redbull I really struggle to see that any manufacturer gets bottom line benefits from F1, if they needed F1 to sell fast cars Porsche would never have left

[Efbe]

Kickstart said:

Outside of Redbull I really struggle to see that any manufacturer gets bottom line benefits from F1, if they needed F1 to sell fast cars Porsche would never have left

totally disagree.

is the poster car for most kids a Lamborghini, or a Ferrari?
F1 keeps them famous, gives them the right image. Ferraris are fast, classy, expensive and desirable. That image sells cars.

Porsche went a different route for their image: http://www.porsche.com/uk/motorsportandevents/moto...

[markcoznottz]

Proper nursery at the moment. Alonso and raikkonen having a right end of season strop, if the iceman starts being demotivated, and he's starting to show some signs, he will have a wasted season at ferrari. A week is along time in F1 but a lot of very experienced drivers seem very pissed at Vettel's apparent ease of winning. Probably not so bad for Hulk and Gro, but Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Button, are all world champions so must be very pissed off. They are suffering from 'piquet syndrome' it would seem, when the wins get very hard to come by.

[McClure]

Efbe said:

totally disagree.

is the poster car for most kids a Lamborghini, or a Ferrari?
F1 keeps them famous, gives them the right image. Ferraris are fast, classy, expensive and desirable. That image sells cars.

Porsche went a different route for their image: http://www.porsche.com/uk/motorsportandevents/moto...

look at the current hypercar market, Macca and Ferrari have left Lambo looking silly with the P1 and LaFezza after utilising F1 tech. Lambo are now bordering on being irrelevant.

[RYH64E]

markcoznottz said:

...when the wins get very hard to come by.

Hard to come by? There's only been one winner in the second half of the season.

[Justaredbadge]

Efbe said:

totally disagree.

is the poster car for most kids a Lamborghini, or a Ferrari?
F1 keeps them famous, gives them the right image. Ferraris are fast, classy, expensive and desirable. That image sells cars.

Porsche went a different route for their image: http://www.porsche.com/uk/motorsportandevents/moto...

no they aren't. They're brash, in your face and anything but classy.

Ferrari haven't produced a classy car since 1967.

Lamborghini haven't produced a classy car since the original Miura.

Porsche have effectively updated the same car, but even the 911 hasn't been classy since about 1970.

[Efbe]

Justaredbadge said:

Efbe said:

totally disagree.

is the poster car for most kids a Lamborghini, or a Ferrari?
F1 keeps them famous, gives them the right image. Ferraris are fast, classy, expensive and desirable. That image sells cars.

Porsche went a different route for their image: http://www.porsche.com/uk/motorsportandevents/moto...

no they aren't. They're brash, in your face and anything but classy.

Ferrari haven't produced a classy car since 1967.

Lamborghini haven't produced a classy car since the original Miura.

Porsche have effectively updated the same car, but even the 911 hasn't been classy since about 1970.

reality and perception are two completely different things. here we are talking about perception.

a Ferrari is the 'made it' car. it's the car young kids and teenagers dream of, and will hopefully drive if they do well nd sell lots of drugs

[rubystone]

Justaredbadge said:

Ferrari haven't produced a classy car since 1967

Porsche have effectively updated the same car, but even the 911 hasn't been classy since about 1970.

Hmmm...I think you are 4 years out on Ferrari and 3 on Porsche. Plus Porsche utilised the same bodyshell until the 996 so half marks to you on that

[LiamM45]

McClure said:

look at the current hypercar market, Macca and Ferrari have left Lambo looking silly with the P1 and LaFezza after utilising F1 tech. Lambo are now bordering on being irrelevant.

I think it's only a matter of time before the VAG group get involved in F1.

Although they are doing well in endurance racing, with F1 massively pushing the hybrid tech and lower capacity engines, F1 would be an a very good proving ground for stuff we may one day see in road cars.

[VolvoT5]

markcoznottz said:

Proper nursery at the moment. Alonso and raikkonen having a right end of season strop, if the iceman starts being demotivated, and he's starting to show some signs, he will have a wasted season at ferrari. A week is along time in F1 but a lot of very experienced drivers seem very pissed at Vettel's apparent ease of winning. Probably not so bad for Hulk and Gro, but Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso, Button, are all world champions so must be very pissed off. They are suffering from 'piquet syndrome' it would seem, when the wins get very hard to come by.

I kind of agree here, well apart from the "demotivated" thing as I just don't buy those stories. The big 3 outside of Vettel (Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen) have been fairly unimpressive these last few races, especially the latter 2. For them it is about wins and championships and since the 2013 result has been all but over for many races now they have all switched focus to next year already / gone on a mental holiday. Plus I'm sure there is a lot of bitterness that Vettel has managed to land on his feet with that car - as good as Vettel is I'm sure any of those other 4 would have replicated his results with that car.

I have never rated Button as highly but I'm sure he could match them IF he was given the car perfectly matched AND setup to his driving style. Although I appreciate the car has not been impressive this year, I still think Jenson is too comfortable at Mclaren right now and could do with a kick up the arse.

edit:
oh and I think age is starting to catch up with Alonso/Raikkonen now. They are still incredible drivers but I do think they are both past their prime in terms of 1 lap pace.

Edited by VolvoT5 on Tuesday 5th November 02:38

[VladD]

LiamM45 said:

McClure said:

look at the current hypercar market, Macca and Ferrari have left Lambo looking silly with the P1 and LaFezza after utilising F1 tech. Lambo are now bordering on being irrelevant.

I think it's only a matter of time before the VAG group get involved in F1.

Intersting thought. VW in rally, SEAT in touring cars, Audi/Porsche in endurance and Lambo in F1?

[tuffer]

VladD said:

Intersting thought. VW in rally, SEAT in touring cars, Audi/Porsche in endurance and Lambo in F1?

Not saying they won't but that is a lot of motorsport to support, pretty sure Lambo will continue to have a loyal following so long as they produce outlandish cars. I think at that level it is not all about the performance figures, you cannot even use 1/3 of the potential on a public road anyway....Well you can but....

[Hub]

tuffer said:

And McL's comments to Button at the end of today's race regarding his grid slot, I think all is not well at McL and we could see some significant changes in the coming weeks.

What were the comments?

He does seem to have stagnated quite a lot and become quite a moaner, while Perez has got on with it and seems to be improving a little.

[tuffer]

Hub said:

tuffer said:

And McL's comments to Button at the end of today's race regarding his grid slot, I think all is not well at McL and we could see some significant changes in the coming weeks.

What were the comments?

He does seem to have stagnated quite a lot and become quite a moaner, while Perez has got on with it and seems to be improving a little.

I only caught a snippet on the news but it was along the lines of "That's what happens when you qualify so far down the grid".

[AndrewEH1]

LiamM45 said:

I think it's only a matter of time before the VAG group get involved in F1.

Although they are doing well in endurance racing, with F1 massively pushing the hybrid tech and lower capacity engines, F1 would be an a very good proving ground for stuff we may one day see in road cars.

In an interview the head of Audi motorsport said that they will never enter F1 as the regulations are too tight and restrictive compared to WEC.

[Teppic]

tuffer said:

I only caught a snippet on the news but it was along the lines of "That's what happens when you qualify so far down the grid".

Pity he didn't retort with "And that's where we qualify when you build a st car".

[PhillipM]

VladD said:

and Lambo in F1?

I would think that's far too risky a game to play. You could easily do more damage than good to Lambo's image.

[Justaredbadge]

rubystone said:

Hmmm...I think you are 4 years out on Ferrari and 3 on Porsche. Plus Porsche utilised the same bodyshell until the 996 so half marks to you on that

I'll stand my ground on Ferrari and argue that as soon as the arches got wider on 911s they lost the classes of the 1964

[Justaredbadge]

rubystone said:

Hmmm...I think you are 4 years out on Ferrari and 3 on Porsche. Plus Porsche utilised the same bodyshell until the 996 so half marks to you on that

I'll stand my ground on Ferrari and argue that as soon as the arches got wider on 911s they lost the classiness of the 1964/1965/1966/1967 cars. by the Turbo 930s it was all over for classiness and looking brutish was the in thing.