Okay, so while I’d like to do this more as a week in review, when you haven’t written much (this amounting to a whole two posts for my four readers) and are concerned about things happening in the present, there is much to catch up on. Rather than taking a look at the week that was (which we will hopefully do next week) let’s take a peek at how 2016 is unfolding so far.
Increased Safety for Drivers, Barriers, Cars: Adios Pastor
An easy joke perhaps but still true. After 95 starts, 76 points and thousands upon thousands of euros of damage, we wave so long to Pastor Maldonado. As much as it was apparently a surprise to him, it was quite a surprise by me given the very lucrative backing of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA (although given the current state of the petroleum industry…maybe it isn’t so lucrative) would be enough to have most teams look the other way while he collides with anything put in front of or beside him.
My thoughts go out to hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com who have been put out of business. My computer’s flash seems to sympathize:
Let’s take a moment to remember the stirring day when he brought his Williams FW34, painted in colors reminiscent of 1994-1997, home first at 2012 Spanish Grand Prix. Immediately after that things caught fire and thankfully no one was killed but it did put a dark spot on what was to be a thrilling day. Looking back, it seems like a foreshadowing of the rest of his career.
Welcome Back Kevin!
All that said, we do get Kevin Magnussen back! Story time: I was actually in Denmark on 16 March 2014 and watched the race live that morning and was thrilled to see Kevin drive so well and then amused to watch him on the podium, utterly confused and blown away by what he just accomplished in his first race. Often we see the polished (or at least acting like they live on the podium) but it was…nice to see someone who was so thrilled to be there they could barely give the interview on the podium. Sure, the rest of 2014 was pedestrian, but a strong enough performance to earn a mid-pack position in points. As a result I was annoyed to see him shoved into the test driver role, a terrible position in these new testing restricted days of Formula 1 and to then see his engine go bang before he even got to the grid in his one start in 2015.
While I’m still yet to be sold on the fact that Renault has solved it’s issues with power, here’s to hoping he doesn’t hit things and does better than Maldonado, lest I have to eat all that crap I said above.
(Renault) Toleman Benetton Renault Lotus Renault
Good to see Renault back but the question is really for how long? It seems the old Toleman Team just can’t stick with one ownership group for too long. Is Enstone really that bad of a place to be? While nearly every engine manufacturer has, at some point or another, taken its proverbial ball and gone home, for some reason it seems like Renault does it more often than most – perhaps it’s because they left after winning the drivers and constructors (as engine manufacturer for Williams (and Benetton) championship in 1997 seeming to be unstoppable since 1992.
I happen to like the black and yellow cars and after the fairly silly (by the end at least) public spat with Red Bull last season, here’s to hoping for better times.
Haas F1 Looks…Good.
Not a prediction on how they will do, but I’m still gun-shy about my countrymen entering Formula 1 since the USF1 debacle. Unlike USF1, Haas already has lots of infrastructure, know-how and seems to understand that Europe is where one needs to be to run an F1 operation (despite Bernie trying to snuff out the European rounds).
Engine Sounds
With the great debate raging on about what engines should sound like, teams have started releasing videos of people walking around and engine noise (as to not give away what the cars look like).
Thanks but, I’ll wait to see(hear?) how they sound when all fired up together.
The Week Ahead
A week from today we will get underway with our first test, so we’ll have some proper things to talk about, however we do have Ferrari’s launch to look forward to on Friday. Most however will just be a boring ol’ launch in the pitlane. Sadly the days of over-the-top launches seems dead.
