Plenty of discussion points
ALONSO RETIRING, RICCIARDO SET FOR RENAULT, SAINZ JOINING MCLAREN There has been lots of talk about the sport going the electric route in future.
he summer break provided some interesting discussion points, like Daniel Ricciardo’s move to Renault next year, Fernando Alonso’s retirement, Carlos Sainz joining McLaren and Ross Brawn intimating an “electrifying” future for F1.
Alonso’s decision did not come as a surprise, and neither did his fellow Spaniard’s move to the Woking team.
The double world champion has spent the last four seasons struggling with a terribly uncompetitive car.
Despite promises from management and engine suppliers, the chances of even reaching the podium in a McLaren seem remote for the next couple of years.
Having won two F1 Drivers’ titles and his victory at Le Mans in June, the Spaniard is close to emulating Graham Hill in his quest for motorsport’s unbelievably elusive “triple crown”.
Perhaps we will see Alonso move to IndyCars for the future with the objective of taking victory in the legendary Indianapolis 500 and reaching his goal.
The 37-year-old is in his 17th F1 season and has achieved 32 victories, 22 pole positions and 97 podiums.
With that sort of talent he could well become the man to equal Hill’s achievement.
Stepping up to the plate at McLaren will be countryman, Carlos Sainz, 23, who leaves Renault at the end of the 2018 season.
A talented young driver, Sainz will have to face at least a couple of years of hard work and no spectacular results as the team struggles to find the sort of form that made McLaren a household name back in the good old days.
I must admit that the current rumours regarding the future of F1 are leaving me cold.
I am at a loss to understand those who are driving some of these proposed radical changes.
We know that Jean Todt, FIA president, is totally against any return to the halcyon days of glorious multi-cylinder internal combustion engines, when the sound of V8, V10 or 12-cylinder engines were a rallying cry to all those with petroleum in their arterial system.
The constant reminder by the controlling body, and others of like mind, that the sport needs the manufacturers, indicates that the development of the future F1 power plant has to be in line with future road car requirements.
Sadly this ideology is becoming more firmly entrenched, but I was surprised to read that the technical director of F1 owners Liberty Media was of the same mind.
They have even suggested that we could possibly be facing an all electric Formula One within the next 10 years. These are not ideas I would have expected from Ross Brawn, the man who, with Jean Todt, Rory Byrne and Michael Schumacher, was part of the Ferrari “dream team” that dominated the sport from 2000 to 2004.
In an interview with F1’s Fan Voice, Brawn is reported as saying: “I think we have to respect what Formula E is doing and what it is achieving.
“But if you look at the magnitude of the two they are not really comparable.
“In terms of our number of