BlogF1

Autosport have recently reported that a potential shake-up of the way a race weekend is structured is being discussed. The newly-formed Formula One Team’s Association have been looking at a lot of aspects relating to Formula One, and as usual when these kind of discussions happen, the age-old Friday’s aren’t particularly interesting line comes out. Martin Whitmarsh appears to have been the most vocal on this, but his idea is just plain silly. Continue Reading

McLaren have confirmed, after much discussion, that they have now lodged an appeal with the FIA over the decision to penalise Lewis Hamilton with a post-race drive-thru following the Belgian Grand Prix. The penalty, which followed an on-track skirmish between the McLaren driver and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, has left many fans feeling annoyed at the steward’s inconsistency and of course, the actually ambiguity of the incident itself. Continue Reading

In a word, I would have to say “no”. It is a particular bug-bear of mine and it refuses to go away. What has prompted this recent suggestion that Formula One does not do enough for the fans is Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren’s CEO, who has gone on record and stated the same; he feels Formula One is too secretive and that those involved have not yet done enough to cater for all the different types of fans the sport has. His comments are interesting and worth discussing. Continue Reading

McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has been all over the media in recent weeks, the events of last year refusing to disappear. Rumours of Dennis’s potential departure from the limelight have been rife across the online and offline worlds, which all came to a head earlier in the month. The Sunday Times published an article following Marca’s the week previous, pretty much stating that Ron was standing down from McLaren and handing over to Martin Whitmarsh. Of course, this will happen eventually, but Dennis has decided to remain at the forefront of McLaren for another year. A decision that is supported by the staff at Woking and the team’s engine partner and co-owner Mercedes. But is it the correct decision? Continue Reading

The spy saga that ripped through Formula One last year was bound to rear its ugly head at some point today, but McLaren spoke confidently about the legitimacy of their car, and to also warn others that the distractions of the past six months haven’t taken anything away from the development of the MP4-23. In all honesty, the issues that embroiled the team must have hurt some of the work on the teams 2008 campaign, but being such a large and organised team, I doubt it will have any affect on the upcoming season. And of course, further recriminations will not happen following McLaren’s unreserved apology to everyone. Continue Reading

McLaren unveiled their 2008 challenger today at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart. The MP4-23 was revealed to the waiting press and photos were distributed of the new model. The cars will be numbered 22 and 23 following the teams exclusion from the 2007 championship after it was found they had beached the rules. But the 14th car to be powered by Mercedes is good to go following the end of the saga last year and the team are buoyant about their chances of winning the title in 2008. Continue Reading