Silly season 2016

[kptaylor]

Yes, he won one race...in 2012. He also holds a few records of distinction from that same year:, from wikipedia

He finished fifteenth in the Championship on 45 points, the lowest Championship standing for a driver who won a race during an F1 season. Maldonado also received 14 penalties throughout the season, five ahead of Sergio Pérez and Michael Schumacher, Maldonado's grid penalties for both driving offences and gearbox changes totaled to 38 grid places, 1.8 per race.

He scored his second highest number of points last year, 27, while only completing 10 of 19 races...

[Racer X]

With those numbers if he was a Baseball Player he would be one of the all time greatest along with Babe Ruth.... But alas he is an F1 Driver so Maldonado is one of the all time worst. He probably the best of the worst in an weird kind of way.


If the rumors about Alonso are true it would be a great thing for RENAULT but I think he's better off at Honda. I hope he stays at Honda he knew last year would be rubish. It's a 3 year program the guy knew this going into Honda. He needs to stick to it they will become competitive at least more then Renault.... Atleast next year anyway'.

[nevill3]

If Alonso jumps ship and moves to Renault it would show how desperate he is to find a car capable of winning a WDC in, any knowledgeable fan knows that Renault will probably be poor next year due to all the underfunding and staff departures they have suffered recently, Renault will rise again but not in time for Alonso to claim another title.

[djos]

Not to mention the Honda PU is likely to leapfrog the Renault by a big margin!

[basti313]

If the rumors about Alonso are true it would be a great thing for RENAULT but I think he's better off at Honda. I hope he stays at Honda he knew last year would be rubish. It's a 3 year program the guy knew this going into Honda. He needs to stick to it they will become competitive at least more then Renault.... Atleast next year anyway'.

That is true. McLaren will comped with Renault and is very likely to be clearly better than Renault next year. Renault will struggle...weaker engine, new engine integration, no new engineers. So a move to Renault would really be stupid.

If Alonso jumps ship and moves to Renault it would show how desperate he is to find a car capable of winning a WDC in, any knowledgeable fan knows that Renault will probably be poor next year due to all the underfunding and staff departures they have suffered recently, Renault will rise again but not in time for Alonso to claim another title.

I think it is pretty clear, that we will see a Merc in front next year. Hopefully with Ferrari being closer. There is just no rule change and the past showed us, that this will lead to a mostly unchanged pecking order. So there is nearly no possible move to get a better position to be WDC at the moment.
Maybe the 2017 and 18 rule changes help McLaren/Alo. But no one can predict that...

Not to mention the Honda PU is likely to leapfrog the Renault by a big margin!

It is likely??? There are dreams about this in the McLaren/Honda fan threads...not more. In these threads the same people, that do not trust Horner/Marko by default, now totally believe them when they say Renault has no clue what is wrong. And they believe Arai who tells since a year, that the engine will be better next month. [-o<

[godlameroso]

I don't think next year's Renault will be any slower than this year's car. Somehow I think they'll take a small step forward, they'll consistently be towards the bottom of the top 10.

[djos]

Not to mention the Honda PU is likely to leapfrog the Renault by a big margin!

It is likely??? There are dreams about this in the McLaren/Honda fan threads...not more. In these threads the same people, that do not trust Horner/Marko by default, now totally believe them when they say Renault has no clue what is wrong. And they believe Arai who tells since a year, that the engine will be better next month. [-o<

I think it is, based on comments from Ferrari engineers saying Honda have a great ice now and only need to ditch the tiny turbo concept to get their PU up to scratch.

Renault have demonstrated their ineptitude all by themselves, Horner all Marko have merely been stating the obvious. You can't really fault them for that, after all they paid for Mario illien to help out and Renault rejected his work, now that their ideas turned out to be a waste of time, they've hired illien themselves!

[stefan_]

I think this Alonso - Renautl thing is just a wild rumour. Maybe there were some ideas on the Renault side, but most probably Fernando has a bulletproof contract at Honda, with the option of him taking off only if he really, really wants it. And with a lot of cash involved, of course.

[Racer X]

I think this Alonso - Renautl thing is just a wild rumour. Maybe there were some ideas on the Renault side, but most probably Fernando has a bulletproof contract at Honda, with the option of him taking off only if he really, really wants it. And with a lot of cash involved, of course.

I agree completely but I also think Renault might be the sort of team that wouldn't mind paying all that cash for Alonso. But like Ive already said and alot of us think that he's better at Honda at least for next season.

[Joseki]

I think Alonso will be racing in WEC after the McLaren-Honda experience, no more F1.

[basti313]

Not to mention the Honda PU is likely to leapfrog the Renault by a big margin!

It is likely??? There are dreams about this in the McLaren/Honda fan threads...not more. In these threads the same people, that do not trust Horner/Marko by default, now totally believe them when they say Renault has no clue what is wrong. And they believe Arai who tells since a year, that the engine will be better next month. [-o<

I think it is, based on comments from Ferrari engineers saying Honda have a great ice now and only need to ditch the tiny turbo concept to get their PU up to scratch.

They are not ditching the tiny turbo concept as they need it to make the aero work. Mark Hughes wrote a nice comment about all this in the Motorsport Magazine. I do not really see anything "likely" to turn out to be the holy grail, no one knows if the new turbo will be any better, not even Hondy. So it is more likely that they will keep on struggling.

Renault has problems with the ICE, but the ICE will not be the limiting factor in future. Give them one or two years and all the ICEs will be on the same level +- a few percent. Let them find the solution in the fuel and they go up several percent. The Renault will never be the best engine, but there is a good chance to get close to Merc and Ferrari and they can improve from engine to engine. Something Honda can not so as they are bound to the small turbo.

I think Alonso will be racing in WEC after the McLaren-Honda experience, no more F1.

Yes, that is what I also think. There is and will be no seat open at Merc, RedBull or Ferrari. For the rest of the field he is a waste of money and the rest of the field is a waste of time for him as he can not be WC with them.

[nokivasara]

ALO to Renault? Yes please, McLaren Honda wont get that thing figured out in 2016. Maybe I'm just a butthurt Mclaren fan but even if everyone hopes for the next update they haven't really gotten anywhere during last season, there's not much hope of them coming out guns blazing killing the competition in march...
I bet Renault will finish higher than Mclaren in the WCC 2016, at least if they get ALO.

[ME4ME]

I bet Renault will finish higher than Mclaren in the WCC 2016, at least if they get ALO.

But they won't get Alonso, certainly not in 2016.

As for you bet, I think Mclaren will quite easily beat Renault in 2016.

[PlatinumZealot]

Alot of positiveutterances coming out of the honda camp recently. There must be soemthing in it because honda know the power target they need to meet and the new engine is running on the dynos right now. I think they already achieved a power level close to mercedes already. It is just about ironing out the gremlings on track.

[Sevach]

I'll believe when i see it, Honda has been empty promise after empty promise.