[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Autosprint article stating next year's Ferrari may be significantly slower than this year's going by wind tunnel figures.

Too early to say IMO, the package (or more specifically the list of parts FIA mandates) isn't frozen until late February when further design change is no longer possible for that season, unless there is strong safety or reliability reason for it. We are still a good 4 months away for that!

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by anachronix

Lets start the 2016 silly season already then

This news comes from an article published in the same name Autosprint # 42 on newsstands Tuesday, October 21, which deals with the topic in more detail.

Oh yes, lets get the magazine from the newsstand to hear more rubbish about how the 2015 car could be slower than the 2014 car and how Alonso's 6 tenths missing would still hurt Ferrari in 2015. Right time to sell some magazines in Italy eh!

Then dont read it mate! Missed the part where we signed onto discuss "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth..."

Im always up to read some F1 gossip. Given the Seb/Alo switches.. i've got renewed interest in the silly season. All depends what you choose to believe. Im convinced Alonso has agreed to terms with Honda months ago and put something on paper weeks ago, others still think he's lost out and Mclaren are "beating him down". To each his own.

Originally Posted by StarrySky

If the windtunnel results had shown that the 2015 car (that has probably been tested for the first time, or atleast is very early in its development) is faster than "the current F14T", then I guess that would've been quite surprising. Add to it, the 2015 Ferrari is rumoured to have a totally different front suspension setting, which means changes in the aerodynamics package of the car, which again means that the current 2015 scale model is nowhere near optimised. The article also mentions that the simulations do not take into account the possible gains from the 2015 PU+Electrical components. So I think it is too early to say if the 2015 car will be as fast/faster/slower than the F14T when it starts testing. Exactly how competitive it will be next season, depends equally on the gains made by other teams as well.

Agree, but often if you put all the speculation together it gives us some direction. Alonso may already have sensed something missing from the 2015 project, thats what I was getting at when I posted the link, whether it is this, only time will tell.

Originally Posted by Fullrevs

I remember the epic 2.5 sec pitstops for Mclaren about 2-3 seasons back when Sam just got into the team. Now ofcourse many other teams are emulating the same. They started it first though.

Ofcourse, but I meant his technical skills.

[nofear5611]

Hello folks, been reading up on lotta news about the speculations on next years driver market pairings. I could help but resist the temptation to speculate as well. here i have made some suggestions as to where both my favorite drivers could end up. So i will start with alonso first. Before we start Just wanted to rule out some of the teams who already have drivers signed up for next year, although this is not written in stone we will just go with their recent driver announcements.
teams which have been ruled out are:
Mercedes, Williams, RedBull
Teams obviously not considered are:
Caterham, marussia, toro rosso, sauber.
So the possibilities left really are:
Mclaren(Honda), Force India(Mercedes), Lotus(Mercedes) and Ferrari.
So a lot has been said about vettel moving to ferrari which may even be true but i would really like to think if the myth of driving for ferrari is greater than winning more WDC. I would think the latter so i have a feeling vettel would give ferrari a pass for 2015 and can try for it maybe later in his career(just an Hunch) so back to alonso, after alonso's fallout with mclaren, with ron and lewis it seems very unlikely that he would want to return to the team after the whole spygate etc so as much i am going against the writing on the wall it may be his personal disliking for the team and its management as a whole which would prevent him from going there. So if he wants to see another WDC in the next couple of years as he is already 33 he would probably go for a Mercedes powered car. Which does make sense as he is not gonna gamble on an unknown. which leaves him with lotus and Force India. Force india probably has a better backing than lotus, although lotus was a renault team before it got rebadged. So my guess it probably lotus with mercedes power or a sabbatical. Leaving the choice for vettel with mclaren, as they wont really have a problem with him as much as they did with alonso. So the prediction i see for both of them would be like vettel - mclaren honda with JB and Alonso with Lotus/Force India/Sabbatical.
I hope i dont end up creating a whole lot of debate on this, its just well guessing and predicting stuff. Cheers.

[Fullrevs]

Originally Posted by nofear5611

Teams obviously not considered are:
Caterham, marussia, toro rosso, sauber.

Seems as though Caterham, Marrusia will not be on the grid next year. Chances look quite slim. Sauber are already facing a massive financial crisis. Still looking for that elusive title sponsorer.

Originally Posted by nofear5611

So the possibilities left really are:
Mclaren(Honda), Force India(Mercedes), Lotus(Mercedes) and Ferrari.
So a lot has been said about vettel moving to ferrari which may even be true but i would really like to think if the myth of driving for ferrari is greater than winning more WDC. I would think the latter so i have a feeling vettel would give ferrari a pass for 2015 and can try for it maybe later in his career(just an Hunch) so back to alonso, after alonso's fallout with mclaren, with ron and lewis it seems very unlikely that he would want to return to the team after the whole spygate etc so as much i am going against the writing on the wall it may be his personal disliking for the team and its management as a whole which would prevent him from going there. So if he wants to see another WDC in the next couple of years as he is already 33 he would probably go for a Mercedes powered car. Which does make sense as he is not gonna gamble on an unknown. which leaves him with lotus and Force India. Force india probably has a better backing than lotus, although lotus was a renault team before it got rebadged. So my guess it probably lotus with mercedes power or a sabbatical. Leaving the choice for vettel with mclaren, as they wont really have a problem with him as much as they did with alonso. So the prediction i see for both of them would be like vettel - mclaren honda with JB and Alonso with Lotus/Force India/Sabbatical.
I hope i dont end up creating a whole lot of debate on this, its just well guessing and predicting stuff. Cheers.

From the two possibilities stated by you which are Force India and Lotus, it seems that former are almost closing up their driver line-up. Hulkenberg is already signed for 2015 and Sergio Perez's announcement is imminent. Should be any day now. They really cannot afford Alonso either. The spaniard will not drive for free either.

As for Lotus, Maldonado has been signed and they are very keen on signing in Romain but he seems to be waiting on Alonso's plans. Alonso has gone back to Enstone after the fallout with Ron Dennis so that is definitely a possibility. Although, he would simply have to see out the 2015 season and not bank on any rewards. Weighing up all options, it seems its best to swallow his pride and side with Ron Dennis again. If they both can patch up, it will be an almost unstoppable/indestructable pairing. The old Senna-Mclaren days come to mind.

Montezemolo has said that Alonso has quit Ferrari. Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, Gerhard Berger has said that Vettel is going to Ferrari. I agree that nothing can be taken for granted until a formal announcement is dished out by the teams. Which makes me wonder about the first statement I made. Caterham and Marussia are most likely not on the grid next year. Third cars??

[anachronix]

Take it easy when someone doesn't agree or believe with the media rubbish or any rumor/gossip that is reported and please allow me to decide what I can and what I cannot read!

To me its media rubbish, if you think thats a writing on the wall about Ferrari in 2015, its your choice to believe. Like you said 'To each his own' and I cannot join every chorus

Originally Posted by Hatari

Then dont read it mate! Missed the part where we signed onto discuss "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth..."

Im always up to read some F1 gossip. Given the Seb/Alo switches.. i've got renewed interest in the silly season. All depends what you choose to believe. Im convinced Alonso has agreed to terms with Honda months ago and put something on paper weeks ago, others still think he's lost out and Mclaren are "beating him down". To each his own.

[myavu]

Mercedes F1 gearbox secrets revealed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUCapV3p2J4

Truly a masterpiece of engineering

Cheers!

Vinu

[MCR]

The silly season got much more sillier with this news!!

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/20...-in-the-works/

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/audi/89...oin-f1-in-2016

May be this is the reason why Alonso is keen on a one year contract with McLaren.

Would be great to see Merc and Audi go head to head.

Also Caterham Administrators are keen to sell the team. Will Audi pick this ready to use facility?

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2d186892-5...#axzz3H7yQztfk

[zenren]

There goes any hopes that Haas would be a midfield runner. If they are taking inputs from Ferrari in addition to that pathetic engine, his stated goal of fighting in the back for first five years is almost certainly assured.

I'm surprised by his remark that you can't get better than Ferrari. Most other teams are actually proving it on the track that you can! Is he still in the last decade?

The Haas F1 Team will use Ferrari engines when it makes its debut in the sport. Haas said the Italian marque “wanted to go beyond an engine supplier and they were going to actually help us with a lot of the basic structures of the car”.

“We would be very proud to be a Ferrari ‘B-team’,” he added. “That would certainly teach us how to run in Formula One and we quite frankly will take all the help they can give us, because you can’t really get better than Ferrari.”

Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/10/2...rham-mistakes/

[Fullrevs]

Going by a lot of internal Ferrari news, it not that they don't have the ability to make a quick engine and a good aero package with oodles of downforce. They have been too political in their approach. Unwilling to take risks. Not to forget their issues with the wind tunnel. Focusing on making it an all Italian team and so on.

Rumors are that Mattiaci has given a free hand to James Allison to perfect the 2015 car. So i hope to see a lot of innovation.

Also, its no secret that Ferrari are primarily focusing on the US market. Mattiaci was chief of sales in North America. Ferrari would be quite keen to make Haas a junior team. The other way round as well. Definitely a link there.

[myavu]

Now there is a twist in the tale.

Even though a rumour, I believe their will be no smoke without fire.

It is claimed that AUDI will be returning to F1 in 2016 and will be shaking hands with Alonso as their star driver. And by default as everyone knows Stefano Domenicali will be their Team Head.

Recent Marussia / Caterham saga, Alonso's 2015 Audi LeMans chances, Stefano Domenicali's link with Audi LeMans are fuelling the rumour

Source : http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/20...-in-the-works/

But as usual Audi had denied it http://thisisf1.com/2014/10/25/audi-...eturn-twitter/

Cheers!

Vinu

[deetjohn]

This is by far the silliest of silly seasons and why should sniffPETROL be left behind. Alonso have the following options for 2015 as per them.

[myavu]

After reading the following article, I don't understand what Ferrari and Red Bull are crying for.

Read here : http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/10/2...gine-unfreeze/

They are racing their voice to unfreeze the 8% frozen part.

Cheers!

[zenren]

Originally Posted by myavu

After reading the following article, I don't understand what Ferrari and Red Bull are crying for.

Read here : http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/10/2...gine-unfreeze/

They are racing their voice to unfreeze the 8% frozen part.

Cheers!

They want in-season development to be allowed. Currently, only 8% is frozen but they have limited real world testing opportunities before the start of next season when it is locked again for a year.

[polopm]

Fernando in Lotus - speculation is heating up !!


http://thisisf1.com/wp-content/uploa...sZ-597x600.jpg

If that happens, it will be the mean head of Alonso rearing up. All me and nothing for the teams.

[Fullrevs]

In other news, Romain Grosjean says his contract for next year with Lotus is almost confirmed. I seriously doubt the authenticity of the above link. Seems as though Alonso is looking for a one year deal with Mclaren. Ron Dennis isnt too keen on that. The other choice for Alonso is to stay back at Ferrari. I dont see him taking a sabbatical. There's just no guarantee that a seat will be waiting for him in 2016. He is pretty much off the driver market if he takes a years break. All it takes is for one more superstar to rise and everyone will forget Alonso. He knows that so I am pretty sure 'time-off' isnt an option for him.