The Sky F1 presenter was interviewing Eric Boullier, thanked him for his time then turned to the camera to ask the viewers 'how much would you pay for some laps with Alonso in a mclaren?' as an intro into a cutaway, and Boullier started answering him as he continued with his intro, saying oh I don't have to as I work for Mclaren.
Someone at Honda will be laughing their ass off... EDIT: That said, it's still a honda... it'll probably **** itself on the formation lap in 'celebration'
So they changed all those engine parts because they had secrety acquired a Mercedes power unit, somehow. With Honda's F1 history it would not surprise me if it goes off like a bomb during the race or some kind of skullduggery gets uncovered.
If we get many more 'unsafe releases', I'd expect to see a rules change... Quick stops are epic to see, but not if it come at the expense of safety.
Don't Williams have the record at 1.5 seconds or something silly like that? With the bigger heavier tyres and the change of locking system they're slower than a few years ago, but there does seem like something is wrong.
Looked like Toro Rosso rented a Merc engine from either Force India or Williams Jokes aside, Gasly must have felt like christmas and birthday all at once what with him not only ending up best of the rest but doing it on the exact day best of the rest was 4th instead of 7th due to retirements among the big three.
Sauber scored points too, they'll be over the moon. Williams is pointless... read that how you wish...
Ouch, he'll working the rest of the season behind a desk at Maranello then. On a different note, for all the atmosphere and under performance at Mclaren, they are third in the constructors. Sometimes having two cars that actually work is good enough, although I bet they are hoping those upgrades work as expected to keep ahead of that suddenly functional Honda engine. On yet another note. Get in Cal! Victory in Argentina!
[Snarky Comment] Halo done nothing to protect the mechanic [/snarky comment] It looks like the rear failed to come off and the car was dropped and the green light given despite him still holding the new tyre. It looks like he was hit pretty full on with the rear. It could of been a lot worse if he didn't react or move the way he did. Congrats Gasly and Sauber. Erricson is looking fairly decent so far this season. Williams look like rolling road blocks. Magnussen and Hulkenberg forcing each other off in the first lap. Yes Hulkenberg did nudge him off first tho first lap incident, Magnussen was him being his usual self. Sainz was no where today. Saw nothing explaining why. Grosjean was no where even early in the race. Damage later on explains his result but tbh he didn't look good all race. So why are TR and McLaren doing so much better? Honda have improved however If you bolted that Renault in the TR would we get the same result? There's something more at play here all round EDIT: looking at replays the guy holding the car in the centre was the one that moved, the mechanic that got hit barely reacted. Still could of went inter if he was any further back rather than bending round the wheel
TR is doing better with Honda than McL with Honda because the differences in mentality of the car maker. McL: here is our chasis and this level of cooling, make it work in it. TR: what can we do to accomodate the Honda engine as much as posisble ?
Plus TR are used to making do with engines no-one wants [like when they ran with year-old ferrari lumps] and bodging other teams' leftovers [usually RBR's] into a working car.
Not a bad race, last few laps even had the wife getting engaged and willing the shy Finn on! Team-by-team round up: Ferrari - Vettel did brilliantly to adapt his strategy and keep it together for that final 3-4 laps. I was hoping karma for lucking into the win would balance out and he would have a Canada 2011(?) style last lap wobble, but he held his nerve and earned that one. Disappointed Kimi's practice pace failed to materialise on Sunday again, even if he didn't have the pit issue, I reckon Lewis would have taken the last podium spot from him. Mercedes - Bold strategy calls from the pitwall gave us at least a little excitement in the race, but this was always going to be the red teams to lose. Bottas rarely looks like he is commiting 100%, so I would have loved to see what the end result would have been had the silver cars been swapped. RBR - TOTALLY RUINED MY FANTASY F1 SCORES. Max is not having a great start to the season - spin in Aus, crash in quali, then a overly rough move against a driver he should know isn't going to just be muscled off the track... Needs to keep himself in check for the next couple of races. Dan was rightfully dejected - having your car literally switch off within 2 laps when you think you're in with a podium chance is a wounder. McLaren - I know it's because of RBR's double DNF, but they are 3RD IN THE CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP, DAMMIT! And Fernando is above even Kimi in the drivers table. If they can keep updates coming, get a couple more performance boosts from more running time with the Renault engine, I seriously beleive they can do what Alonso says and leave the mid-field behind for good. Renault - Hulk being his no-frills reliable self, solid result and points. Sainz blamed everything barring the Australian sun for his last race, be interesting to see what excuses he has for that completely anonymous performance. HAAS - Another "tale of two halves", K-Mag up there in a race long fight with Alonso and Hulk, Grosjean contributing only to make that fight harder work than it needed to be while battling a Sauber... I like Romain, but he is so flakey he should paint his helmet yellow and purple and gun for a new sponsor... Torro Rosso - Gasly man of the weekend, superb from start to finish. Hartley all over the place, still seems like he is getting to grips with basic F1 rules and regs, let alone getting maximum performance from the car. I am highly suspicious that a performance jump like that can be sustained though - I fully suspect it to be a spike. Sauber - Well paint me orange and call me a... Orange? Ericsson scored points?!? Leclerc was almost as invisible as Sainz. Force India - Ocon seemed to get the most out of what he had, Perez was too busy being blue flagged and tangling with slower Saubers and Williams all race. I really hope these guys don't end slipping down the performance table, they did so much good work over the past few years and have some good talent in the seats... I would hate to see Maldonado make a shock return next year because they are so on the breadline by the end of the season. Williams - Only team to lap slower than last year, last in qualifying, last in race. This will end up being like 2011 all over again... Except we could at least like Rubens.
Vettel luck's in first round. Lewis pulls back an awesome 3rd, my money is on Lewis all day long. Ps what's the halo got to do with a pitstop incident?
Worth noting that Gasly had a new aero upgrade and all new spec Honda engine, whilst Hartley had the same aero as Australia and only the new spec turbo and Kers. Still, STR have a 75% finishing ratio from two races with Honda, last year it was 75% failure frate for McHonda.
I know he's in a Sauber, but I'm beginning to wonder if Leclerc could be one of those "brilliant in every category up to F1 but bombs in F1" drivers that come along every so often.
