Totally gutted for Nando, he was in for a real shout at the 500. And even with so many yellows it was immensely more enjoyable to watch than Monaco. Taku winning was an agreable result
Not a given though the injury to his arm means he cant full lock a wheel at present either way would be great to see him back
That all hinges (literally) on the range of motion in his wrist and fingers. If they can figure a way to let him get full lock and still operate the wheel properly I ca nsee him back in a F1 car before the end of the season. Unless of course Palmer gets to grips with the car, he got the benefit of the doubt last year but this year Hulkenberg is making him look very ordinary. The only driver further behind his team mate on pace is Stroll, at least Palmer is capable of getting within 0.5sec a lap each race.
An argument can be made that Hulkenberg is getting the upgrades ahead of Palmer tho recent races the gap has been massive. I can understand why Magnussen has lost free practice too as Palmer kept him honest the second half of the season. As for Kubica it wouldn't be impossible to increase steering sensitivity.
I now have mental images of Billy Monger back in a single seater, Douglas Bada style. 'pfft, what's the worst that could happen? not like i can lose my legs again...'
I've got an amusing image in my head now of Formula 1 in the future, just a bunch of brains in jars screwed directly into the chassis. It'll make podiaums more interesting, that's for certain
Have to admit, I think Canada is my favorite Grand Prix. Rarely has it disappointed over the weekend.
Was it last year or the year before it had a surprisingly dull race? Even without adaptations I reckon Kubia could beat stroll with one arm tied behind his back.
I still agree with Eddie Jordan's prediction that it will be Mclaren Mercedes again in 2018. Losing $100million per year is one thing, but they will get 20% of that back when Alonso clears out at the end of the year, plus they've probably lost that much and more in sponsors and prize money.
Would be nice if McLaren grew some balls and told Honda to gtfo. And if Honda wants to stay in F1? No problem, they can just buy Sauber, no loss for the sport if it goes wrong and if they come 2nd to last in a race they can claim it was an improvement
Makes sense, they can back McLaren as a "works" team and Honda can find a bridge to step off of. EDIT: and it seems that the folks at McL, especially Zak, really genuinely like Alonso and want him to stick around. A PU switch could convince him to stay, especially since there are no top teams looking to hire at the moment.
I can see Merc selling their team and supplying engines for 'free', whilst also supplying FI, Mclaren and Williams. It would give them the option to reduce their spending in F1 now that they've got the titles and records that eluded them with Mclaren. Only problem is that it would effectively hand Ferrari the series for the next few years, unless RB and Mclaren can both up their game considerably.
I'm going to suggest Merc back Red Bull as a works team or at least play up to their primadona foot stamping. I can't see them playing second fiddle to the Renault works team long term.
I don't think that's likely. It was the promise of a dedicated PU and not playing second fiddle as a customer to a works team that lured Alonso in the first place - why would he plump for a customer team now, especially when Merc dominance is arguably a thing of the past?
Yeah, Fernando wouldn't be looking at a customer team. I think Renault will do themselves a lot of good to put Kubica in the car ASAP. Even if he's 50% of the driver he was pre-accident, he'll still be better than Palmer (and will have a LOT more feedback to give, given his experience). It will also be a really positive story, for the team and F1 in general, and get them a lot of good press. Then they can use that extra coverage and technical input to give Alonso one last stint at a championship fight, at the team he did it the first time around. It's almost poetic...