Nathan I look forward to your UFC pieces the way I used to whenever Brian Phillips would write about tennis on the erstwhile Grantland. Great writing, really keep it up man. Look forward to more of what you have to say about the strange lull UFC seems to find itself in.

I want to scream into a cushion. Argh, Honda you incompetent bastards.

Man this is so so tragic. I mean you think about what happened to Schumacher. Another guy who diced it up in the fast lane his entire life, only to be struck down by a skiing accident. My heart still aches for Michael. I’m so terribly saddened to hear about Nicky, just at a loss for words.

The weird thing here is, the case could be made that both are demons. Great caption though nonetheless

Yeah, I found it baffling how a major oil supplier left them so late in the day. Surely Mclaren must’ve known. Surely Honda would’ve done their dyno tests with the BP-Castrol oils, not like Mclaren could’ve arranged the new supply at short notice. I would’ve thought the Renault factory team would be on Total fuels (?)…

Bit of a joke-y response but I wonder if the power unit did so well because it coughed up all the BP-Castrol fuel it’s been struggling with this season. I’m quite curious to know how they’ve tackled the fuel issue amongst the laundry list of things they have to get the car further up the grid.

The Spanish Inquisition has reopened to investigate the potential witchcraft by Fernando Alonso to qualify a horse cart Mclaren Honda in P7!

What an excellent point. Another thing worth considering is that the engines are integral structural members of the cars now. What with the greater stresses on the current format cars, Sauber are clearly at a disadvantage using a year old engine that was designed for smaller vehicles with less mechanical and aero…

Came across an interesting nugget of information about the apparent smooth dyno performance and the complete juddering mess the engine is in the car. One theory posited was that at dyno testing over the winter Honda were still using Exxon Mobil fuel+oil, whereas come the start of the season they had to switch to BP…

Hah, seriously though, who would gamble on that seat?

I had an interesting thought and wanted to know what people thought. In my mind it seems pretty safe to say Fernando is as good as gone from Mclaren this year (where to, that’s open to debate - my money is his old home at Enstone). What I’m most curious to know is who do Mclaren fill that vacant seat with? Pretty sure…

Ah very good spot actually. Nando is perfectly calculating enough to have done that knowing the dishonour it would bring to the Japanese head honcho’s. But you’re right, it just seems like Honda management have their head in the sand. Inexplicable is indeed the word. I still maintain that Japan needs a long hard look…

Can you imagine something like this race weekend unfolding for Honda at Suzuka? With their star driver pillorying them at every opportunity. Japanese corporate culture is so rigid I bet they’d fire him on the spot. I mean look at all these fallen Japanese titans. Toshiba is about to be stripped for parts. Sharp,…

Oh man that would be great. I really am rooting for the Toyota’s after the heartbreak last year. I can see Porsche strengthening their resolve if Alonso made his participation in a LMP1 programme more than a bit part effort.

I really hope Zak can show the humility to maybe drop his asking price a bit to the haughty approach Ron had before he was ousted. It’s shocking to see how bare the McLaren livery is sponsors wise, and the race overalls might as well be what the Stig uses. Come on, all the prestige brands have pretty much left…

Absolutely. I’m somewhat surprised by the news this morning but at the same time what a shrewd move by McLaren. All things told they could be making the most of their rather shitty current circumstances.

very canny move from Mclaren’s part. Everyone knows the near zealot like fervour with which Fernando approaches his attempts to cement his spot in the highest pantheons of motor racing. If he could truly achieve triple crown success in this day and age he could proudly negate whatever naysayers may say about his…

They’ve also just lost Mobil sponsorship to Red Bull last year too? That’s a major long time fuel partner. Renault is naturally hitched up with Total iirc. Just checked to see Castrol (BP owned - learnt that today) is Mclaren fuel partner. BP are rather strapped for cash at the minute so I wonder how much they can…

haha vicious

Oh for sure, it’s just a fantasy team pipe dream so to speak. I don’t see RBR breaking their line up given how talented, cheap, and young they are as a unit. Only way I see a spot opening up for young Carlos is if you develop a poisonous dynamic in the team if the two start butting heads or one of them feels aggrieved…