I personally am glad to see Maldonado gone I am tired of the paid F-1 crash drivers I am glad he ran of of money He ran out of talent long ago! In victory you deserve Champagne In defeat you need it!
Scars are Tattoos with better stories !
If you follow all the rules You miss all the fun!
If you have no enemies, you have no character !
Clyde Romero
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail ( including attachments ) is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U. S. C., Sections 2510-2521, and is intended only for the persons or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain confidential or privileged material. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, dissemination, copying, forwarding or distribution is prohibited. This email transmission, and any documents, files or previous email messages attached to it, may contain confidential information that is priviledged. If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the information containes in or attached to this message is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us by reply e-mail at Clyde.romerof4 [at] gmail.com or by telephone at (678 6419932)and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading them or saving them to disk.
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Maldonado: I will not be on the F1 starting grid in 2016
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 10:40 AM PST
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Pastor Maldonado, the only Venezuelan to win a grand prix but also one of Formula One’s most incident-prone drivers, will be absent from the 2016 starting grid after losing his place at Renault-owned Lotus.
“Today, with the utmost humility, I tell you that I will not be on the Formula One starting grid for the 2016 season,” Maldonado told his 710,000 followers in a lengthy statement on his Twitter account.
“Thanks for all your messages of support, passion and concern about my future.”
The 30-year-old’s seat looks set to be taken by Denmark’s Kevin Magnussen, the 23-year-old who made his debut with McLaren in 2014 only to spend last year on the sidelines.
Media reports said Magnussen had signed a contract with Renault after problems with Maldonado’s sponsorship.
The Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has backed the driver throughout his F1 career to the tune of tens of millions of dollars but has been hit by the plunging price of oil and domestic economic woes.
Renault, who acquired Lotus in December, are due to present their team and plans for the future at a news conference in Paris on Wednesday. The season starts in Australia on March 20.
With British rookie Jolyon Palmer signed as the other driver, Maldonado would have been the team’s most experienced driver following the departure of Frenchman Romain Grosjean to the new Haas team.
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The Venezuelan’s position had been shrouded in uncertainty for months, however, as the South American country plunged deeper into economic recession.
Annual inflation is at almost 150 percent, according to latest figures, and there are shortages of basic goods.
The late president Hugo Chavez, who sought to boost Venezuela’s international image through sporting success, was one of Maldonado’s big supporters and the driver reciprocated by winning the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix for Williams.
That remains his only success and for many fans he will be better known as ‘Crashtor’, a driver who despite his undeniable speed and roguish grin picked up penalty points like others collect trophies.
Analysis by the F1fanatic.co.uk website showed that Maldonado, who started out with Williams in 2011, incurred twice as many penalties as any other driver over his 95 race career in Formula One.
Social media revelled in his run-ins with hashtags to highlight them. The hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com site, which acquired a loyal following for its regular updates, switched to a sad face on Monday.
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Magnussen to Renault is now a done deal
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 10:11 AM PST
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Kevin Magnussen has now agreed a deal to race with the new Renault works team in the 2016 Formula 1 season, according to various well connected sources. (Note: Above is a manipulated photo)
The Danish newspaper BT reported: It’s not yet official, but we reveal that Kevin Magnussen has already signed an agreement with the French car giant.
The report, referring to well informed sources added that it is expected that the former McLaren driver’s new deal will be confirmed officially on Wednesday, when the international press gathers at the Technocentre Renault in Guyancourt, just outside of Paris.
If confirmed, 23-year-old Magnussen will replace Pastor Maldonado, who finds himself in the middle of a sponsorship dispute between Enstone based Renault – formerly Lotus – and his crisis-struck backer PDVSA.
PDVSA, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company, reportedly missed Renault’s final deadline of last Friday to catch up on payments, as the oil price crisis threatens the country’s entire economy.
“The only question now is whether Venezuela’s government or economy will completely collapse first,” the Washington Post declared in a report last Friday.
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BT said the terms of Magnussen’s deal, or whether his return to the grid is being powered by the CEO of the fashion chain Bestseller, fellow Dane Anders Holch Povlsen, are unclear.
But Marco Sorensen, another Dane and a recent Lotus test driver, told the Ekstra Bladet newspaper: “It’s great for him (Magnussen) and for Danish motor sport. It’s really big.”
Another report ahead of Renault’s Wednesday announcements is that the carmaker could use its new works foray to promote some of its other brands.
La Gazzetta dello Sport suggested that Infiniti, the luxury division of Renault’s Japanese partner Nissan and the former Red Bull title sponsor, could now return to F1 in 2016.
Further speculaition is that Renault could revive the iconic Alpine name for its latest Formula 1 foray.
“Other brands may be involved,” admitted F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul recently, according to France’s Canal Plus, “but I will not say more about it because it is part of the official announcement.”
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Russian billionaire’s son taken on by Force India
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 07:35 AM PST
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Force India Formula 1 team have taken on 16-year-old Russian Nikita Mazepin, whose billionaire father Dmitry is owner of mineral fertiliser producer Uralchem, as a development driver.
“My goal is to race in Formula 1 in the future and today’s news takes me closer to achieving that objective,” the teenager said in a statement from the British-based team on Monday.
Apart from Force India duties, Mazepin will race for Hitech GP in the European Formula Three championship this year with sponsorship from Uralchem and Uralkali, the world’s largest potash producer.
Force India’s co-owner Vijay Mallya said Mazepin would become ‘fully embedded’ in his team in a long-term association that would help develop the skills needed to become a Formula One driver.
Mercedes-powered Force India, who have had cash-flow problems in the past and sought an advance on their 2016 championship money to tide them through the winter, finished fifth out of 10 teams last season.
“We plan to use him extensively on our new simulator and he will also support our in-season testing programme,” said Mallya, the liquor baron who co-owns the team with India’s Sahara Group.
“It’s also exciting for the team to begin working with a young Russian driver given the success of the Russian Grand Prix in recent years.
“It’s a market with huge potential for Formula One and the emergence of young talents, such as Nikita, will ensure interest in the sport continues to grow rapidly.”
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Arai: We suffered from a lack of match sharpness in 2015
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 04:58 AM PST
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Honda’s Formula 1 chief Yasuhisa Arai has admitted the Japanese marque struggled with a ‘lack of match sharpness’ as it returned to the grid in 2015.
Teaming up with McLaren, Honda struggled badly last year and Arai admitted to the Nikkei Asian Review: “We felt the effects of our seven year absence from racing.
“We anticipated technological troubles. And although we recognised them, we failed to quickly pinpoint the causes, come up with measures to resolve them and make the necessary adjustments. We were suffering from what athletes call a ‘lack of match sharpness’,” Arai added.
Despite their glorious history, there was also some tension with McLaren, with Arai admitting that of Honda’s F1 workforce “about half” were completely new to F1.
“The talks (with McLaren) are neither cozy nor confrontational,” he said. “Sometime around last summer, they asked if we had sufficient resources and wanted to know why we were doing things exclusively on our own.
“But we explained that Honda has a different philosophy. It’s important to nurture manpower.”
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Arai said, however, that there is now light at the end of the tunnel, after undertaking a full analysis in order to “thoroughly” fix the engine problems for 2016.
“I couldn’t say we would definitely find solutions within a year,” he said.
“(But) we’re keen to meet everyone’s expectations and reach the podium as soon as possible. We will resolve the technological problems we failed to address in 2015 and will head into the opening race with confidence.”
As for the question about resources, Arai insisted: “We don’t disclose details about that. I can’t even talk about percentage changes. But we have been considering the budget and team size since last summer.
“I’ve talked with [Honda] president Takahiro Hachigo and received his pledge for full support. We are ready for the 2016 season.”
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2016 Grand Prix start time information
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 02:58 AM PST
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Download PDF Version
The FIA has released the Formula 1 event start time information for all sessions 95 sessions of the 19 rounds 2016 world championship.
Newcomers to the calendar, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, will start at 18:00 local time which should make it a day night race similar to Abu Dhabi which starts at 17:00 local time.
Bahrain and Singapore remain a night races, with the start time of 18:00 and 20:00 respectively.
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Haas looking to share services of a reserve driver
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 01:56 AM PST
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Haas F1 Team, has no plans to appoint a full-time reserve driver, but are actively looking to share a reserve driver with another team instead.
With Frenchman Romain Grosjean and Mexican Esteban Gutierrez set to race for the Ferrari-linked team, it has been speculated that Haas might want a USA-born driver to at least be appointed the third, reserve or test driver.
But team founder Gene Haas told Sportsbusiness Daily Global: “We don’t have a reserve driver at the moment. If we can find a common reserve driver with Ferrari or someone that would probably be the best way to do that.”
Haas said the need for permanent reserve drivers has diminished in recent years due to the advances in safety and reduction in the prevalence of injuries.
“With the safety there is today you generally-speaking need a reserve driver just for sickness or some other emergency,” he explained.
“The need for a reserve driver probably isn’t as important as you think. We don’t typically have reserve drivers in Nascar either.”
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Kvyat: Never happy until we’re back on the top step of the podium
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 01:51 AM PST
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Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat is hoping his team can improve in 2016, despite pre-season pessimism emerging from the energy drinks camp.
Although now taking a back seat at the former quadruple world champion team, designer Adrian Newey last week warned that Red Bull could be set for another painful year in 2016.
That is because, even after the bitter falling out with Renault, Red Bull will continue to be powered by French-made engines this year albeit branded as TAG-Heuer.
“Our hope for 2016 is to just maintain that gap (of 2015) but with Ferrari and Mercedes expected to step up, towards the end of the year we might be further behind than we were last year,” Newey told The Hindu newspaper.
But Russian team driver Kvyat does not agree, “We aim to make steps forward and so as long as we see progress we’ll be happy, but we will always aim high.”
“We’ll never be really happy until we’re back on the top step of the podium but for now, let’s start with small signs of progress. That would satisfy me for now,” Kvyat added.
Many believe that 2016 is a year of treading water for Red Bull, ahead of the team partnering up with a major manufacturer once again.
Word is that a deal has been inked, with Red Bull billionaire boss Dietrich Mateschitz directly involved in the negotiation process, with the Volkswagen Group. Either Audi, Porsche or perhaps Bentley set to supply engines to the Milton Keynes based outfit from 2017 and beyond.
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Livery change maybe on the cards for new McLaren
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 01:38 AM PST
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Speculation is mounting that McLaren will kick off its hopes for a much better 2016 Formula 1 world championship season with a livery changes.
The British team has had few livery changes throughout its illustrious history, having raced in either the Marlboro or West-inspired guises in recent decades.
But last year, McLaren unveiled conventional silver colours for the new Honda-powered car, only to change mid-season to the familiar all-dark and Dayglo livery.
Now for 2016, as hopes rise for a much better campaign, there are rumours McLaren will change appearance again.
Tester Stoffel Vandoorne appeared recently at the Paul Ricard test with a blacked-out area on the chest of his overalls, indicating a major new sponsor might soon be unveiled.
And Jenson Button appeared in a recent advertisement wearing a white team t-shirt that features much more black than before.
Marca, an online Spanish sports newspaper, conducted a survey in which 26 per cent of the 50,000 voters concluded that Fernando Alonso’s car for 2016 might be black and white.
But the report said team employees have been explicitly told not to divulge any information about McLaren’s actual 2016 livery.
“It is also possible that nothing will change,” the same source told Marca.
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Vettel says Ferrari fans will notice differences on new car
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 01:32 AM PST
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Sebastian Vettel admits a that seasoned eye will quickly recognise the changes made to Ferrari’s Formula 1 car for 2016.
After Mercedes easily won the first two championships of the new ‘power unit’ era, Ferrari has targeted beating the German giant to this year’s crowns.
“The title has to be our aim,” Vettel told Auto Bild Motorsport. “Nevertheless, we must not forget that there was still a team ahead of us last year.”
But he also revealed that Ferrari has made some key changes for 2016, amid speculation the nose is shorter, the rear-end slimmer, and the novel pull-rod front suspension scrapped.
“Basically, a few things will change and they will be identified fairly easily,” said Vettel.
He said he was involved throughout the process of plotting Ferrari’s next development steps, “For almost the entire time last year I was involved in the development of the (2016) car. I think we are on the right track.”
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Six contenders for Manor race seats await final decision
Posted: 01 Feb 2016 01:17 AM PST
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The long negotiation for a seat at the Mercedes powered Manor team – where five and maybe even six drivers are contenders – is entering its final days, according to the Jakarta Post.
The Indonesian newspaper is closely following the fortunes of Rio Haryanto, a local driver who finished the 2015 GP2 season in fourth place.
He is reportedly on pole for a seat at Manor thanks to his backing by the Indonesian government, including the state-owned oil company Pertamina. The latest report suggests Haryanto’s wait for news has entered its final week.
“I really hope for the best that my dream will come true,” he said during a press conference at the youth and sports ministry building in Jakarta.
The Jakarta Post said Haryanto has $5.6 million in Pertamina sponsorship, plus another $7.2 million from the youth and sports ministry.
It would appear to make him the favourite for a Manor seat, among other candidates including Alexander Rossi, Will Stevens, and Mercedes’ Pascal Wehrlein along with Kevin Magnussen and Pastor Maldonado.
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Should the Venezuelan be ditched by Renault and have the PVDSA budget at his disposal, his only remaining option would be Manor. Should Renault retain Maldonado then Magnussen would be a contender for the Manor seat.
Meanwhile Indah Pennywati, Haryanto’s mother, told media this past weekend, “We would like to express our gratitude to the government – Pertamina and state-owned enterprises – which has been very supportive of Rio reaching F1.”
“We are looking forward to good news from Manor Racing regarding Rio’s participation in the event by next week,” added Pennywati, who is involved with her son’s management.
A spokesman for the youth and sports ministry said a down-payment to Manor is due shortly, “Therefore, this week will be a critical time for Rio in entering F1. We’ve done our best. We’ll all see how it ends.”
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