James Key, Toro Rosso, 2018

McLaren right to seek new talent – Alonso

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In the round-up: Fernando Alonso says McLaren is doing the right thing by bringing in new people to solve the problems it has with its car.

What they say

McLaren has announced it intends to bring in Toro Rosso’s James Key as its new technical director.

I like the direction. I think we need to, as I said, be honest with ourselves, understand the problem, understand the lack of performance.

Once you accept that the car is not quick enough and there is a lack of performance then you start searching for new ideas, new people, new philosophies, all these things.

I think the way of taking people from the outside maybe with different philosophies, changing a little bit the structure, simplifying, also how everything runs in the team and in the factory, they are all positive steps to make McLaren competitive in the near future.

This is Formula 1, the result are not coming from one day to the next. Everything requires times. But as I said the last two or three grands prix everything I see it feels logical so it feels good.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Live free-to-air Formula 1 coverage will end in the UK at the end of this year, but in other regions there is no legal way to watch:

In Estonia this is the first year for 10-15 years there is no legal way to watch F1. Viasat dropped it (used to be pay-TV and delayed on pay-less-TV) and official F1 TV Pro is not allowed here either.

Good luck with the audience number in the future too, when things continue like it’s been for the past five to 10 years. Sky F1 in UK shows that going to pay-TV has no gains for fans. Costs a lot and BBC/C4 had/has better weekend coverage in my honest opinion.
Lauri (@F1lauri)

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On this day in F1

  • 55 years ago today Jim Clark won a non-championship race at Karlskoga in Sweden

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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27 comments on “McLaren right to seek new talent – Alonso”

  1. Whatever McLaren do, it’ll be too late for Alonso. At best they’re several years away from returning to the top and there’s a chance they’ll never win titles again.

    So as much as I appreciate watching him, I really hope Alonso doesn’t waste another year of his career driving for McLaren in F1.

    1. He needs to quit F1 and find fresh new lands, after all King Macbeth is the architect of his own demise.

  2. I can’t see viewer numbers rising in Australia whilst Foxtel (Murdoch) owns the rights to live broadcasting and the so-called highlights program ( 10:30 pm Monday) is just the live broadcast with the guts cut out of it. Australia has 5 FTA networks each one of which has 4-5 sub channels and each has local content plus a choice selection of programs from the rest of the world, Foxtel is expensive and it’s habit off swooping down and carrying off top-rating FTA programs is reminiscent of a standover man or ticket scalper.

    1. Agreed @hohum.
      Race start moving from 10pm AEST to 11:10pm has killed live viewers also.

      Every race nowadays it’s download Monday morning, watch Monday night and hope i don’t stumble on the results in the meantime…

      1. @aussierod

        Every race nowadays it’s download Monday morning, watch Monday night and hope i don’t stumble on the results in the meantime…

        This. So much this. Find myself covering my ears and screaming “LA LA LA!” if I happen to be somewhere I can’t control the radio and the sports news comes on.

      2. Not for america, race used to start at 6 am, 6 am!!, and you say 11 pm its a bad time? The difference between waking up at 5.50 am and 7 am it’s night and day literally.

        1. @luca, When in Florida I always recorded the race and watched it while I was having my Sunday morning cup of coffee, perfect.

  3. 55 years ago the drivers really earned their money on track, todays drivers could be said to be earning their money between races.

    1. @hohum – isn’t that the case for nearly every successful athlete & sportsperson, not just drivers? Celebrity endorsements through advertising, and building their brand brings in far more revenue than just prize money.

      1. @phylyp, not to mention that it also ignores the fact that there were figures, such as Jack Brabham, who had already commercialised motorsport more than a decade earlier – but, evidently, that sort of thing needs to be whitewashed out of history in order to fit in with the idealised version that HoHum seems to want to remember of the past.

        1. And even Lauda had to bring money to race. Doubt he was paying for his appearances in between races.
          55 years and the rose tinted glasses are still half empty.

        2. Jack Brabham, who had already commercialised motorsport more than a decade earlier

          How so?

          1. @johnrkh, as a younger man, Jack Brabham had personal sponsorship from the Redex fuel additive company and had the Redex brand painted on his cars.

        3. According to Wiki: Brabham drove in the British GPs of 1955 & 56, and his first full season was 1957.
          I don’t see how/why he was singled out for ‘commercialisation’ a ‘decade’ before ’55 years ago’… which would be 1953…
          Weird comment…?

          1. Ah… Now all is clear…
            Weird response…

          2. BlackJackFan, I cited that example to highlight that, even in more junior categories, the idea of driver personal sponsorship was hardly new by the 1960’s, but there are others. If you want a more specific example to F1, you could then look to Fangio – he was paid by the Argentinian tourism board to promote the country via motorsport.

            The other point is that HoHum is ignoring the fact that there were quite a few drivers of that era, and earlier, who also had significant business activities outside of the sport (figures such as John Claes, for example, who ran an import-export business). There were quite a few drivers who were not dependent on having to earn everything on the track, despite the way that HoHum wants to paint it, but for whom prize money from motorsport might offer a secondary steam of income at most and was, in quite a few instances, a luxury activity that they indulged in because they had the personal wealth to do so.

      2. @phylyp, See comment from ANON below to see why I described todays drivers as earning their money between races, if I had just left it at “earned their money on track” I knew I would be swamped with comments defending todays F1 drivers, my point is the drivers back then took every opportunity to win money at races, non championship, sportscars, saloon cars, whatever, and they really were risking their life every weekend. I do not denigrate todays F1 drivers, merely highlight the difference between past and present.

  4. Stoffel’s post clearly shows what’s the cause of their uncompetitiveness:
    McLaren mistakens donkeypower for horsepower!!
    Somebody tell them!

    1. I think he is looking at the wrong end. Exhaust blown diffusers.

    2. There’s a guy in Egypt who can help them.
      @leventebandi

    3. Mark in Florida
      11th August 2018, 17:10

      Ha! McLaren may need a kick in the head to get straightened out. One donkey meets another. Maybe Sainz will get a shot at driving for McLaren. They need to do something, they are in a terrible state right now. Maybe Key will be the key to getting them on the right path. When a team gets stuck in a losing streak sometimes one person can break the mentality that has held the team back. Here’s to hope that McLaren will get back to being winners again.

    4. @leventebandi Stoffel is looking at extra engineering power.

  5. An interesting article from Motorsport Magazine and I couldn’t really agree more with the points being made in it about Alonso’s reputation and career choices, etc.
    – On a side note: Hopefully, Stoffel’s going to be able to bring the horsepower he’s found somewhere in the world to the Renault PU at the back of the Mclaren car.

    1. @jerejj, that said, it does also seem to contradict some articles that Motorsport Magazine have posted in the past that suggested the decision to move Alonso out of the team was a political decision made by Marchionne, not Montezemolo, as Marchionne wanting to symbolically “clear the decks” of anybody associated with Montezemolo and Domenicali.

      Alonso, being a high profile signing during Montezemolo’s time at Ferrari, was therefore an obvious target for Marchionne to replace if he wanted to assert that this was “his team” and that he would run it his way and with his appointed drivers (Vettel).

      1. Anon, @jerejj, I think the article has a fundamental issue in portraying previous Red Bull spats as evidence they can handle Alonso/Verstappen, given they are quite possibly losing Riccardo (and perhaps arguably, Sainz Jr.) due to not really dealing all that well with clashes, and only Webber’s own self believe (stubbornness?) kept him around for as long as he did.

        1. I wouldn’t call Weber stubborn. He was a smart guy knowing best where he could win the occasional race. Like Bottas, Raikkonen, Massa, Barichello, etc.
          PS Noah could float a second ark with those. It seems that Ricciardo wanted to get off before being considered a candidate ;)

  6. Reading Adrian’s Newy’s book he highlighted that they courted Alonso when he switched teams – had a meeting with Dietrich and they didn’t get on – case closed.

    I see Gasley getting the seat at RB – Alonso to WEC and part time Indy trophy hunting :)

    Sainz to McLaren ??? Raikonen will get another year at Fezza. Stroll to FI. Williams withdraw…..(can’t get any worse) (and what makes it worse they still think they’re fighting for the front….) Nigel mansell comes back….

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