$50 million is an enormous amount of money, but realistically, I’m sure Renault won’t miss it in the long run. They’ll make cuts this season to compensate, but they certainly didn’t plan on keeping Maldonado for long. Once they started actually succeeding, they would have looked for a better driver. Palmer will be…

There are tons of pay drivers who are now considered to be some of the best to ever do it. Fernando Alonso started out as a pay driver and if I’m not mistaken, Michael Schumacher did as well. It’s a way for some drivers to break into the sport. It’s just that with the current climate, it’s become a dirty phrase, but…

Did you even read my response? I was clearly referencing Honda when I said “they shit the bed” as evidenced by the fact that the phrase directly followed the sentence about their engine development. I even said that McLaren was thought to have a decent chassis just a few sentences later.

Think about this Alonso is just 8 points from being a five time world champion. Granted, in 07, he was his own worst enemy, but in 2010 and 2012, he was let down by the team. He’s dragged cars not worthy of race wins into championship contention. Granted, his lack of one lap pace hasn’t helped him, but during the…

Do you even follow F1? McLaren had the third biggest budget in F1 this year, only $3 million behind Red Bull and Mercedes and almost $40 million ahead of Ferrari. At $465 million sunk into the last season, I wouldn’t call their budget small. Their budget downright dwarfs the budget of Williams which is around $190…

I’m reading the article from the Sun and they’re calling the line-up of a former Formula 1 driver, a hugely entertaining female racing driver and arguably one of the most respected auto journalists in the world “low key” and mentioned that it left fans unimpressed (which I now see you quoted in your write up). What…

I don’t even hate the idea of DRS. It’s the fact that when a trailing driver uses DRS, the leading driver can do nothing but sit there and watch them sail by, provided they actually have enough of a straight left. If both drivers can hit the DRS, great, but as it stands, it’s SO artificial. It’s like something you’d…

I think this looks great and in particular I think the interior looks great. The interior is plain and I like it. I hate having touch screens for everything. Nice big buttons that you can push without taking your eyes off the road are best. I find that Infiniti interiors always look like they're tryin a bit too hard…

I agree that the regs need to be looser in many respects, but people have to give up on the engine argument because even if the regulations were opened up to free engine development, it’s not likely any of the manufacturer’s would do anything different. Trust me, I think those videos of qualifying at Spa in 2005 with…

Agreed 100%. In the late 80s, Senna and Prost regularly won races by 15-30 seconds. McLaren dominated and then Williams did the same thing in 1992 and 1993. There’s always one dominant team but I think that the tight regulations and the PC of the drivers takes away from the spectacle. You didn’t see Senna, Prost or…

Foolish comment. Not only are they responsible for bringing some fine young drivers into the sport with their young drivers program which is miles ahead of every other team’s, but they’re easily the most put together team in F1. If you look at their model, it’s the only young driver’s program that actually works. They…

I think it’s funny that every article about the USGP this year refers to it as a disastrous weekend. It may have been an economic disaster, but you could make a strong argument for it being the best race of the season. Maybe Hungary was better.

That particular turbo V6 was 88 only. The MP4/3 was powered by a Porsche turbo V6. The MP4/4 was powered by the Honda V6. The greatest car in F1 history.

Makes a lot of sense IMO. If an independent manufacturer like Cosworth comes up with an independent solution to the problem, there’s a chance, however small it may be, that in the right car, their engine could be competitive. If Ferrari makes the “independent” engine, however, there’s no chance. They’ll always be one…

I don’t think anyone is against having a female F1 driver, it’s just that there hasn’t been a female racing driver good enough. I think when a team selects a female driver whose husband is part owner of the team (Wolff) or they select one who is very attractive (Jorda) but neither has really achieved anything, it…

I can’t agree on 2.5 second pit stops detracting from the spectacle. I have to agree about the rules being too tight but some rules need to be tight such as the rule about single file restarts behind the safety car. I would also like to see car design emphasized a little more so that teams with excellent design staffs…

Lots of rumors about Mario Illien coming aboard to help them develop the engine. I forget where I read it... Autosport maybe, but apparently Illien derived some new plans for the Renault engine before this season started that were worth 20 HP but Renault refused to accept them claiming that their designs were…

Yea I think that development came a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn’t even mind the fact that they’re going to be forced to run pretty much sponsor free if they actually had an interesting livery. How nice would the Williams cars look with just Martini sponsorship and nothing else?

I’m just excited for the off season. Lots of rumors going around about Ilmor assisting RBR with their engine problems and Honda finally getting on top of their engine problems (how long have we been hearing that line?). New F1 teams and possibly the return of a Renault works team. Hopefully come testing in February,…

Money has always talked in F1 though. In the 80s/90s, Williams and McLaren had a lot more money than most teams. Innovation costs money. That’s why Adrian Newey’s designs weren’t nearly as successful until he moved to Williams. Same with Rory Byrne and his move to Benneton. You can be a great engineer but without the…