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The 2013 Formula 1 Pre-Season Thread |OT| Plenty of Time Left in the Silly Season

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This Lotus mechanic has some serious stones. :lol
 
Because I love you guys so fucking much, I uploaded this just now from the F1 last year. Completely forgot I had it and only found it again last night.

Only took me 11 and a bit months.
 
Sleeplessnights said:
Are you going this year?
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Oh, you're a funny guy! Of course I am :) I'll post again what I knocked up last year re: my tickets:

scorcher59 said:
Nice! seats on prost turn! so what does the premium stand brings?
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Um... just an undercover bit at the top of the stands :) It's in the front row of that premium section (I think it's three or four rows?) and on the far right, so we can see the cars pretty clearly over the last few corners. (my brother and I were a few rows ahead and a few seats in, in the regular area... but we got rained on pretty severely at times so figured it was worth the extra $50 or so for shelter)

Those tickets are (to me) basically the very best ones on the whole track and were *exactly* what I wanted.
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So fucking stoked... can't wait.
 
Paddy Lowe has agreed to join Mercedes from McLaren. It was rumoured at the launch of the Mercedes car last month.
He is on the traditional "gardening leave" now until next season.

The Guardian
 
AMuS also reporting that there is controversy over engine mappings again this season and in testing.
Renault supplied teams (RBR & Lotus) using new engine mappings based on the banned 2012 German GP configuration. FIA rules state that the 2013 maps must be the same as 2012 selection.
This would be a blow to both teams as they have designed their exhaust setup around the now banned engine maps (off-throttle blowing). Both cars have very similar exhaust exits/ramps.

AMuS
 
Psychotext said:
That would suck. I'm sure Red Bull would mostly recover but I'm not sure Lotus would.
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They are going to have to copy the McLaren (gold-) standard now. (like Renault powered Williams already did)
Ferrari said its the 2012 rules, so Renault people got nervous and asked the FIA for clarification - and directive 19/2012 stands.
 
Paddy Lowe of McLaren moving to Mercedes

Last month, the Mercedes team principal, Ross Brawn, responding to questions about his own future with the German team, said Lowe would not be joining as long as he remained in charge.

He said: "Paddy is not coming. I want to see how things go before I make a final long-term commitment. If I choose to leave the team then Paddy will come. We've got a plan. We have a fall-back plan. It's as simple as that."

But Lowe's rumoured move to Mercedes is a done deal. He will join the team in time to oversee the massive changes for 2014, when the engines will downsize from V8s to V6 1.6 litre turbo charged units.
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Less than 3 weeks to go! At some points of the offseason it seemed like it was taking forever but as we're almost there, time has flown by!
 
Guess we can confirm the Lowe to Mercedes story now.
Tim Goss has just been promoted to TD at McLaren.

McLaren has appointed Tim Goss as its new technical director, in the wake of Paddy Lowe's decision to switch to Mercedes.

After weeks of speculation about Lowe's future, sources confirmed on Monday that he had now agreed to leave the Woking-based team and join Mercedes from the start of 2014.

While Lowe will be put on 'gardening leave' by McLaren until his current contract finishes at the end of the year, the team has moved to promote its director of engineering Goss to replace him.

Speaking about his new role, Goss said: "I'm delighted to have been offered the technical directorship of McLaren, and I'm greatly looking forward to making a significant contribution to the team's ongoing success in that role."

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh said he was confident that Lowe's departure would not hamper his outfit's ambitions to win the championship this year.
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Autosport
 
McLaren seemingly have an adequate replacement in Goss, but I'm not sure I'd want to put myself in Paddy's shoes if things at Mercedes are still prickly in a years time.

After spending nearly a year on gardening leave (which I imagine must be horrible, personally and professionally), the last thing you'd want is to be launched into a political minefield.
 
The missing Webber obsessive sent me a message about this:

Bernie Ecclestone wants deal to keep Grand Prix in Melbourne for 50 years

In an unprecedented pledge, the British billionaire has offered to sign a contract 10 times longer than usual to keep the race at Albert Park.

"We hope we're going to be in Melbourne forever, although we do get a bit of criticism and I don't know why," he said.

"We're happy with Melbourne and I'd be happy to sign a 50-year contract."...
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Can't really argue much with that. :)
 
If there was chance of a return to F1 for Senna and his sponsors, I think they would do everything possible to drop that garbage endurance series in a flash.



More Honda 2014 v6 engine rumours: ex Ferrari engine boss Gilles Simon is working on it in the UK.


I can see a joint McLaren/Honda acquisition of Cosworth who are based on the same street/estate as MUGEN.



The dream isn't dead; McLaren - Honda will rise again to dominate :bow
 
I haven't realized that i drove directly by Hockenheimring when i went to Luxembourg on Saturday until i saw the grandstand today on return trip :D
 
Sounds like Mercedes have offered a massive salary to Paddy Lowe to move to them.
McLaren say he was offered a telephone number salary which much mean he was offered 7 digit salary a year..

McLaren Honda in Coco-Cola red would be awesome for 2014.
 
Since there is nothing to do but wait maybe you guys could answer a question for me. What is the likelihood of a big American team, say a Monster team from Ford? Why hasn't this happened?
 
LowKeyedUp said:
Since there is nothing to do but wait maybe you guys could answer a question for me. What is the likelihood of a big American team, say a Monster team from Ford? Why hasn't this happened?
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American's have no interest in Formula 1, and money doesn't generate instant success in Formula 1 (hello Toyota).

Also a lot of the races are at non-optimal times in the US. At least I think so, could be wrong.
 
Our times aren't too bad actually, the European races run pretty late though. When I said "American" team I meant more a team from the US, not a national team or anything.
 
LowKeyedUp said:
Our times aren't too bad actually, the European races run pretty late though. When I said "American" team I meant more a team from the US, not a national team or anything.
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Most of them are on at ~6am here (PT). The Asian races are good if you can stay up late, some start around 11pm-midnight. I'd like to see an American team as well (not a national team) but as stated above there isn't much interest or financial reward to start a team. Motorsports here is basically Nascar and everything else (maybe Nascar and Indy car to an extent).
 
Well hopefully NBC makes a big push this year and does a great job broadcasting F1 in the US. The US Grand Prix was the first race I watched and I can't wait for the season to start.
 
brotkasten said:
Damn. I was hoping for Bianchi.
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He's rumoured now to be replacing Razia at Marussia.

Would make sense. Razia's money is drying up and Marussia could well be looking for a good 2014 engine deal. They'd need it more than Force India and Ferrari are set to lose Toro Rosso the way things appear so far.
 
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