VILLENEUVE: ALONSO WILL GO FOR IT AND THAT’S TYPICAL GLADIATOR

Jacques Villeneuve has applauded Fernando Alonso’s gladiatorial spirit in chasing motorsport’s ‘Triple Crown’ but the retired Formula One world champion and Indianapolis 500 winner said he was sceptical about the Spaniard’s chances.

Alonso, who races for Honda-powered McLaren in Formula One, will be at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, this weekend to soak up the Indy Car atmosphere before competing in the Indy 500 in May.

A win on the famed Brickyard oval would be sensational but the double world champion will still have to conquer the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race to match the unique Triple Crown achieved by the late Briton Graham Hill in 1972.

Villeneuve, who won Indianapolis in 1995 and the Formula One title in 1997 before finishing second with Peugeot at Le Mans in 2008, felt the likelihood of Alonso succeeding was “tiny”.


“He will go for it, and that’s what’s great. That’s what makes it exciting,” the Canadian told Reuters at the recent Bahrain Grand Prix.

“It’s typical gladiators and that’s what built the sport, made it what it is today. So it’s good that there’s someone going back to its roots like this, it’s amazing.

“What I find disappointing is how many (F1) drivers say ‘why bother, it’s only an oval race…it’s dangerous, why would I race there?’ Well, you’re a racer.”

Indianapolis was part of the Formula One world championship from 1950 through to 1960 but the winners were all Americans unfamiliar to European audiences and did not compete in grands prix elsewhere.

In 1965 Jim Clark missed the showcase Monaco Grand Prix – as Alonso will also do this year – to race at Indy. The late Scot won, becoming the only driver to take the Formula One championship and Indianapolis in the same year.

Hill, father of 1996 world champion Damon, won the Formula One crown in 1962 and 1968, the Indy 500 in 1966 and Le Mans in 1972.

“If you are a pure race fan and are passionate and a racer at heart, you have to be interested in Le Mans and Indy 500 as well as F1. It’s the three main things in racing,” said Villeneuve.

“For drivers it was always important … I finished second in Le Mans which is a shame, that really kills me. That hurts.”

The Canadian competed in Le Mans only after retiring from Formula One, with Alonso – who will be 36 in July – likely to follow the same route.

Villeneuve said he would love another go at the French race but was not kidding himself about his chances, and suggested Alonso should not either.

“I’m waiting for the call. It won’t happen. I’m 46 and you need to be 18 to race now,” he said, with some exaggeration about the younger end of the spectrum given that nine times Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen of Denmark retired at 47.

McLaren won Le Mans in 1995 against faster prototypes in wet conditions but the race has been dominated for more than a decade by major manufacturers.

“There’s doing Le Mans, and there’s trying to win Le Mans. And there’s only two or three cars that can do it and there’s no way you can get in there,” said Villeneuve.

“A constructor would not want a big name to win the Triple Crown because ultimately it’s not their publicity, it’s the driver’s publicity,” he added. “They want to win as a constructor. So there’s that aspect also that blocks it.”

Source : Reuters

NEW COCKPIT PROTECTION SOLUTION PRESENTED TO DRIVERS

An alternative to the Halo cockpit safety solution was presented by the FIA to drivers during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

The device has been dubbed ‘The Shield’ and is believed to be loosely based on the solution proposed by Red Bull last year, with the goal of providing extra protection for drivers.

Speculation is that ‘The Shield’ is designed to prevent stray debris from striking a driver at high speed, but apparently will not provide much protection from a wayward flying wheel from smashing into a driver.

Formula 1 drivers were informed about the new concept during briefing in Shanghai, with the FIA seeking to attain support for the concept before the end of April.

Carlos Sainz revealed that “the FIA is seeking a compromise between safety and the aesthetics of the cars.”

Toro Rosso teammate Daniil Kvyat added, “It is hard to draw any conclusions about it and from what I gather it is just a proposal. Honestly, personally I don’t believe this is necessary. Formula 1 is safe enough as it is.”

SAUBER - THE FUTURE OF HONDA IN F1 ?

As suggested in these pages as long ago as September last year,  Sauber and Honda are in discussion about an engine supply deal for 2018 - and it could be that the Swiss team will become the only Honda user next year, if McLaren decides that it no longer wants to continue the relationship and jumps to Mercedes-Benz. That is not a great strategy, but it seems that powerful voices inside McLaren believe that continuing with Honda will simply add to the team's problems. A switch would cost McLaren large sums of money, not only in terms of the technical work required to transform the cars, but also in lost revenues from Honda. This will be painful, but the fear is that if the current drift continues, McLaren will suffer damage to its credibility and will become less attractive to sponsors. 

The Woking team is waiting to see what Honda can do in the next couple of months and if there is not a significant step forward, a switch to Mercedes in the mid-season could be possible, even if it will cost more than the prize money which could be won. According to our sources Mercedes believes that the McLaren chassis is good and recruiting the team could make life more complicated for Ferrari. At the same time , however, the Stuttgart firm does not want to be seen to be pushing Honda out of the sport. The answer could be for McLaren to announce a switch to Mercedes at the same time (or after) an announcement that Honda has a new relationship with Sauber. We hear that a series of meetings are planned by Mercedes for this week and a decision about McLaren will be made before China.

We have also heard that Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa met secretly with Mercedes's Andy Cowell before Melbourne to discuss whether Mercedes could help Honda to become more competitive, but the fact that Mercedes may now be behind Ferrari means that it will want to concentrate on that far more important battle.

We have also heard that Mercedes has suggested a price of around $37 million to McLaren for a supply of engines this year. This about three times what Williams is paying. Mercedes does not want to repeat the mistake that McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh made in 2009 when he agreed to allow Brawn GP to have access to Mercedes engines - the result of which was Brawn beating McLaren in the World Championship, which convinced Mercedes to buy Brawn and end the relationship with McLaren.

Sauber is in a very different situation to McLaren and is running 2016-spec Ferrari engines because it has planned to use this season as a time to consolidate. The demise of Manor means that Sauber is under no threat of losing prize money, as there are only 10 teams in F1 and so the Swiss team has guaranteed prize money for at least another two or three years. Honda may not be in a very good situation at the moment, but there is a desire to improve. Sauber has nothing to lose, and much to gain, by switching engines, because it will no longer have to pay Ferrari, will gain money from Honda and if the team finishes 10th it will be no different to the expectations as a Ferrari customer. Any improvement from Honda could thus move Sauber up the F1 ladder as a factory-backed team, something it has wanted to be since the departure of BMW from the sport back in 2009. It is a gamble, but it does mean that Sauber's future will be solid at least until the new engine formula begins in 2021.

Can Honda rise to the challenge? It is clear that people at McLaren have concluded that the Japanese firm needs a change in attitude to begin to function like a Formula 1 operation, the result of a risk-averse corporate mentality in Japan. This is a theme that McLaren's Eric Boullier has mentioned in his remarks about the McLaren-Honda partnership. Honda was built by the maverick Soichiro Honda and the men who followed him embraced his philosophies, but it has been a long time since they disappeared and Honda has drifted towards mediocrity. Last year CEO Takahiro Hachigo admitted publicly that the company needs to change and rekindle its pioneering spirit. 

"We recognize the need for a fundamental transformation," he said, when announcing plans to prioritize quality over quantity.

A switch to Mercedes will cost McLaren, but if that brings better results between now and 2020, when the new engine rules are introduced - and there is a chance of new manufacturers arriving in F1 - it is probably a risk that the team feels it must take - if it has lost faith in Honda. It should be remembered that the McLaren-Honda deal was announced in 2013, with the partnership beginning in 2015. At the time, however, Honda wanted more time but McLaren was keen to get rid of its Mercedes engines and so pushed Honda to enter earlier than it wanted to.

Source : JSNL