In this latest instalment of the mid season Q&A with James Allen we tackle questions about Renault F1’s future line up, which tracks in the second half of the season will best suit Mercedes or Ferrari, whether Pirelli and F1 should stick with tyres that degrade for ‘the show’ and the future F1 calendar.
Damien_Marquez: “Is Cyril Abiteboul the man to drive Renault back to the front of the grid, or do we need to see someone less French in their approach to managing this F1 team?
Who do you see pairing Hulkenberg next year? If McLaren stay with Honda, is Alonso a realistic prospect?”
Hi Damien, Cyril is an impressive man to speak to, he speaks well and intelligently and he seems to be a strong person. Against that one hears that he is very political, as Fred Vasseur could probably confirm and one has to say that looking back at his F1 career with Caterham and Renault how much success has he had? It’s very hard to say from the outside and there are other factors like the support from the Renault board, not just emotional support but financial. He certainly needs to be seen to be moving them forward this year and next. But he’s well entrenched there.
As for the driver line up, Hulkenberg has done well in qualifying but the races haven’t been as strong and I think that’s an areas they need to work on. I’d pair him with either Sainz or Perez next year if I were Cyril. If there’s a real chance of getting Alonso you’d look at it, but it would add a lot of pressure to the system and I’m not sure they’ll have a car he can win with in 2018, so is it right to spend all that cash on him next year?
Andrew: “Hello James, With tire fatigue having found to be a more immediately dangerous threat to human health than tail pipe emissions from road cars, how long can F1 continue to accent tire degradation as a primary factor in racing success or failure?”
Interesting question. I don’t think that the majority make the link between the two things; tyre degradation in F1 racing and tyre failures on the roads. A few years ago when the Pirellis were failing like at Silverstone, things got a bit dicey in terms of the signal that sent out. But I think everyone realises that F1 is all about the extremes and the prototypes etc.
I personally liked it last year where there were three compounds to choose from that actually gave you different strategies. This year we flagged it early that the tyres were too hard for that and the hardest of the three has been rarely ever used in weekends, which is why the racing isn’t as good this year.
Bomond: “James, would you tells us few more of the “special” places on the current tracks where you like to go and watch drivers showing their best, or where the cars show their peculiarities?”
This is picking up from my point in another Q&A about standing at the first chicane in Montreal to see what the drivers are doing.
Other favourite spots are the Swimming Pool at Monaco, where you can see commitment and also speed of steering inputs. It was there in 2015 that I saw how fast Max Verstappen’s hands are and began to see what was special about the way he drives.
Also places like Degner at Suzuka are revealing, as is Pouhon at Spa in terms of confidence in the car, same with Turn 9 at Barcelona at the top of the hill. I saw Vettel flat through there in winter testing and that told me that he had complete confidence in the Ferrari. I’m sure there are plenty of others but they are some of my personal favourites.
Nuno: “Hi James. Majority of the analysts are saying that 2nd half is Mercedes to dominate, with few exceptions like Singapore. Do you share the same view? I remember back in the RBR days that SPA (for example) was not their favorite track but still they found a way to win it. Do you see Ferrari being able to do the same on the remaining power circuits?”
Spa, Malaysia, Suzuka and Austin will certainly favour Mercedes, as Silverstone did. Then I’d expect Ferrari to be strong at Singapore and Abu Dhabi. The rest could be fairly evenly split. Ferrari did very well in Budapest and there is more to come in development terms from that car. It will be close but I’d be favouring Mercedes as long as Hamilton is on his A game at every event, which he wasn’t in this final stretch last year.
PetrolTed: “Does it make financial sense to abandon the current power unit formula? I would think economies of scale and development of the current PU would make them less expensive than developing new but simpler PUs under a new formula.”
Not really, Ted, no. I think the consensus was that there was no need to start again after the hybrid turbos engines with an all new formula around V10 or V12 or V8.
The basic architecture of the engines will stay, they just need to make it cheaper, louder and ideally higher revving. They will probably either get rid of the MGU-H (heat regeneration from turbo) or standardise it. Then there are other suggestions around common parts that keep the costs down. I personally think that F1 should tell a story of improving hybrid technology at least for the next five to 10 years and stay alive to other future opportunities along the way. Engine makers need a minimum of three years notice to build a next gen engine, especially with the level of complexity there is today.
John: “Realistically what are the chances of Kubica making a full time comeback to F1? Does he still have the pace to be a world champion if he can get a top line drive?”
I have always thought it unlikely based on what I was told by a plastic surgeon friend of mine, who repairs hands and severed limbs for a living. He said that the severing of the two main nerves that Kubica suffered, meant that he would never have sufficient strength or fine motor skills to drive an F1 car again. We analysed the test performance with an F1 engine doing the analysis of the speed traces and it looked like he had some fatigue and we never saw his outright qualifying pace as there were red flags.
So it’s hard to say from the outside, but I’d say it’s still a real stretch for him and a gamble for Renault.
zecrunch87: “What is the status pertaining to future F1 calendar races, more specifically:
1) What is the likelihood the races in China and Singapore will be renewed?
2) Is another potential venue in the USA still in the table for 2019?
3) Another new venue on the table for 2019? What are the options for a Race in Germany after the contract with Hockenheim expires in 2018?
4) Is there a plan to bring a night race in a European city?”
1. Singapore makes sense for both sides and although it’s always hard to make money, they are the best organisers in F1 today and F1 cannot afford to lose that race. China always hard to say, because of political pressures.
2. Yes, but they want to take their time to get the right one and do it properly. It has to be sustainable.
3. Only Hockenheim can hold the race, as far as I know. There is a rise of interest this year in Germany with Vettel in a Ferrari doing well, but it’s still a tough race for them to make money on. Like Silverstone, if there is a way of sharing risk and upside then it can be done for sure.
4. The one I know of is Sochi, which the organisers told me they would like to have as a night race. I’ve not picked anything up about a night race in other European cities so far.
Kevin: “1. Subjectively speaking, who/what were your favorite drivers and/or cars in F1’s long history?
2. People from different generations tend to glorify different ‘glory days’ for F1. Personally, which era was yours?
3. What lead to you accepting to be bought by Motorsport? It seems everyone’s just following what everyone does these days…
4. Who was the most difficult person you have ever had to work with? It can be drivers, team members, FOM staff, and so on.”
1. My favourites were Gilles Villeneueve and Ayrton Senna. I got into motorsport through my Dad who was a works Lotus driver in the late 1950s and early 1960s and won his class at Le Mans in 1961. But around 12 or 13 years old I would follow Villeneuve and really liked his style. Then I started following Senna in FF1600 in the UK and right the way through F3 to F1. He was the best and I was very fortunate to have been able to come into F1 in 1990 and to have three and a bit years to speak to him and do some work with him and we got on well.
2. Hard to say, I loved the 1970s generally as a kid and the cars looked cool like the Six wheeler Tyrrell and the JPS Lotus cars. As a pro I quite liked the late 1990s.
3. There’s a lot more to it than that, but I can’t really explain it here. We’d been talking for 18 months and it wasn’t the right time before, but now it is as much because of how they have evolved as anything. But it’s not simply a case of being bought, we’re in a partnership on a number of business fronts, so as I say there is a lot more to it than appears.
4. I pride myself on getting on with people and being easy to work with. There are two in 25 plus year broadcast career who were very tricky, but I won’t name them. In terms of F1 people, you expect them to be tricky as they are at the top of their game and there are some huge egos. You learn how to work around things..
Thanks for your questions. The Final Summer Q&A will be at the weekend. Leave your questions and comments below
Source :https://www.jamesallenonf1.com
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