Formula 1 World Championship 2014 Pre-Season Discussion

By +Frank B.
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Grand Master

MightyJordan

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Ross Brawn announces retirement from Formula One to end speculation linking him with McLaren

 

 

Ross Brawn today ended months of speculation over his future by confirming his retirement from Formula One.

 

Brawn, 59, has been heavily linked with a move to McLaren following the return of Ron Dennis to the team, but in a shock announcement to a fishing event in Aberdeenshire, he said he would not be returning to the sport.
 
"What they didn't realise when I was invited here was they had a scoop because the world's press was trying to find out if I was retiring or not," Brawn said.
 
"This is the busiest time of the year for Formula One and I said I would come along and open the River Dee.
 
"If they had put two and two together they would have realised I was definitely retiring."

Brawn, the mastermind of Michael Schumacher?s titles with Benetton and Ferrari, as well as Jenson Button?s championship triumph with Brawn GP in 2009, left Mercedes at the end of last season for a sabbatical to spend more time fishing.
 
Just a few days ago as he was inducted into Motor Sport magazine?s hall of fame, Brawn said he would ?never say never? to a return to the paddock, but away from the glare of Formula One, which has been in Jerez for pre-season testing this week, he confirmed his sabbatical would be permanent.
 
"I'm retiring - it's not tongue in cheek," Brawn said.
 
"I'm going to take a year to enjoy the fishing and then see what life brings. I'm looking forward to it but I've got no other plans.
 
"It's a fantastic honour to do the ceremonial opening of the River Dee. It's a river I've never had a chance to fish before because it is predominantly known as a spring river and in the spring I'm normally trying to sort out a Formula One car in Spain.
 
"So February, March and April are never good months for me to go fishing - but this year is different having stopped.?
 
Since leaving Mercedes at the end of the 2013 season, Brawn was first linked with a move to Honda, who will return to Formula One as an engine supplier in 2015, and then with McLaren after Martin Whitmarsh was ousted as team principal.
 
Dennis has created the role of CEO of McLaren Racing, for which Brawn appeared to be a perfect fit, after Eric Boullier was appointed as the team?s Racing Director. But this morning?s announcement should put an end to the feverish speculation surrounding the 59-year-old?s future.
 
Brawn, who has won 16 titles in Formula One, eight drivers? and eight constructors?, has been involved in motorsport since the 1970s, when he joined Williams as a mechanic. He became technical director of Benetton in the early 1990s, where he won a reputation as a master strategist on his way to winning the title with Schumacher in 1994 and 1995. He went on to win six consecutive titles with Ferrari, before winning with his own team, Brawn GP, after Honda pulled out of the sport at the end of 2008.

Farewell to one of the greatest team principles of F1.

Grand Master

Chasethebase Reporter

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Love the subtle dig at Red Bull, implying that their problems aren't just their own and have nothing to do with the fact that Renault are also having huge issues. ;)

Grand Master

MightyJordan

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Martini, one of motor racing's most iconic sponsors, is set to bring its famous white, blue and red colour scheme back to Formula 1 with Williams this year.

 
After months of speculation suggesting Martini could become Williams's title sponsor, sources have revealed that an agreement has been reached that will result in a full rebranding of the Williams car.
 
This advanced state of the negotiations was highlighted this week when images of an official Martini-branded Williams shirt appeared on a merchandising website briefly before being removed.
 
Martini's return to F1 will be its first involvement since it was a sponsor of Ferrari from 2006-08, but at that time its logos only had a small presence on the car.
 
AUTOSPORT has learned that Martini's decision to go with Williams followed talks with a number of leading teams, including McLaren and Ferrari, about a sponsorship deal.
 
In the end Martini decided that the attraction of a title deal - with the team set to become Williams Martini Racing - and the prospect of a full-branding opportunity were too good to resist.

The final details of the new livery are still being finalised, and are unlikely to be signed off until the team has sorted its line-up of sponsors. A deal with insurance company Genworth was announced this week and Williams is poised to add a deal with Petrobras imminently.

There has been no official confirmation of the Martini news from Williams, with the team declining to comment on the situation when contacted by AUTOSPORT.
 
However the team has said several times that its race livery will be revealed before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Martini Racing originally entered F1 with the Tecno team in 1972 but the partnership did not yield much success and the drinks company pulled out of F1.
 
However, a return in 1975 as backer of the Brabham team proved to be a game-changer, as its iconic colours used on a white background achieved worldwide fame.
 
After that season, Martini elected to switch its branding onto a red background. It remained at Brabham until the end of 1978.

Martini moved to Lotus for 1979 but it did not take on the full branding of the car. Its logos did appear on the nose of the car though.
 
After an unsuccessful campaign, Martini withdrew from F1 but it returned in 2006 as a minor sponsor of Ferrari when again its logos featured on a nose.
 
Its return to F1 in 2014 will be its first fully-branded grand prix car since 1978.
 
Outside F1, Martini's famous colours featured heavily in sportscars and touring cars - but it was perhaps best known for a tie-up with Lancia in rallying.

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112504

 

WTF1 posted a bunch of fan-made renders last week.

 

williams-frente.png

 

Martini-Williams.jpg

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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The second pre-season test has started at Bahrain. 2 hours in there has again been fairly little running by the Renault engine teams - Lotus and Caterham have done a few laps, Red Bull and Toro Rosso have yet to make it to the track.

 

Live commentary of today's test: http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/696

Grand Master

MightyJordan

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Red Bull managed 14 laps before it blew up again :D

 

Not looking good at the moment for them. Fans of F1 will benefit from it though.

On the bright side for Red Bull...

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Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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The fastest time during the qualifying for the 2013 Bahrain GP: 1:32:330, the pole lap of Nico Rosberg

Fastest testing time currently: Kevin Magnussen just did a 1:35:489 

 

The 2014 cars are slower, yes, but not as much slower as the 2013 cars were. Well, save for those with a Renault engine I suppose. :shiftyninja:

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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Not very often, one case I recall is 2009 when BrawnGP shocked the entire field during the pre-season tests.

 

Meanwhile Magnussen is down to 1:34:910.

Grand Master

MightyJordan

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This is impressive. Mercedes put up a 360-degree video of Rosberg lapping around Silverstone: http://visualise.com/videos/mercedes-f1-360-video

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