The Fernando Factor [Archive] - Motorsport Forums

Tazio

23rd March 2008, 05:32

“I think we can be reasonably satisfied with our performance today,” he underlined. “With Fernando we got the car into Q3 and we could see that while the times were reasonably close, the margin needed to obtain a good grid position was probably beyond us. As a result we took a tactical decision to fuel quite long, so ninth place was pretty acceptable.”

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/f1/news/161099-0/mclaren_penalty_puts_alonso_right_in_the_mix.html
Irony of former squad's misfortune not lost on Spanish two-time world champion ;)

How long is "quite long"! Could he be on a one stopper?
If he is, stays out of trouble, and his car holds together, he should be well into the points.
More likely he is in for a flexable two stopper. Maybe even a little dice with Hamilton!
Either way It should make for good theater :D

maxu05

23rd March 2008, 05:38

It will be an interesting race, that's for sure. I think the Macs will have a hard slog making up the places. I expect a bit of biff and barge come race time, as others will be not too keen to give up places. I expect a little bit of carnage.

Valve Bounce

23rd March 2008, 05:42

Fuelling up for a one stopper could be a bit of a gamble if it rained, and the safety car came out. Under such conditions, he would have to come in anyway to fit wets.

maxu05

23rd March 2008, 05:44

That's a thought, but, if the race starts as a wet race, wouldn't that play into his hands ?

Valve Bounce

23rd March 2008, 05:49

That's a thought, but, if the race starts as a wet race, wouldn't that play into his hands ?

Not if it's a shower only and the rain stopped, and he had to come in to change to dry tyres. In fact, the change to dry tyres is critical, as cars tend to slow alarmingly if the stay out too long on wets and the track dried out.

In my experience, one stoppers are usually used by those who have little chance of winning and are desperate to take a gamble that they can gain more places by only stopping once while the others stop more times and are then held up by slower cars when the come out.

The computer calcs these guys have would normally indicate whether a two or three stopper would be fastest over the race distance if all went "normally", but then in F1, normally doesn't happen all the time.

maxu05

23rd March 2008, 05:55

I m very close to Malaysia here, and we have similar weather, and it does not look like we will have massive rain here. I think it might be light showers, so perhaps it could well be a fruitless gamble on Fernando's part, but then again.........?

Tazio

23rd March 2008, 05:56

^^^^^
All legitemate points!
But, if it doesn't rain for the first half of the race,
He'll be in like Flintstone.
Fred Flintstone ;)

maxu05

23rd March 2008, 05:58

Or it will be back to the Quarry on Monday :D

Tazio

23rd March 2008, 06:01

I guess we will see!
That Fred.
He is a rather clever fellow! ;)

AndyRAC

24th March 2008, 00:02

I guess we will see!
That Fred.
He is a rather clever fellow! ;)

Don't laugh, but why is Fernando called 'Fred'?

jso1985

24th March 2008, 00:37

That's what I wonder too...

markabilly

24th March 2008, 00:46

Don't laugh, but why is Fernando called 'Fred'?
Because it is short version of (or a nickname) for "Freddie"

jso1985

24th March 2008, 00:50

why Freddie then? :s

markabilly

24th March 2008, 00:55

why Freddie then? :s
it is the longer version of "Fred"

Tazio

24th March 2008, 01:32

Tazio

24th March 2008, 01:34

any more questions?

osg

24th March 2008, 02:38

I think in all honesty that the R28 is a pig, and Fernando is punching well above that cars ability.

With his input though i expect the car to improve.......

Tazio

24th March 2008, 02:42

I think in all honesty that the R28 is a pig, and Fernando is punching well above that cars ability.

With his input though i expect the car to improve.......
Quite right IMO

F1boat

24th March 2008, 08:02

I think in all honesty that the R28 is a pig, and Fernando is punching well above that cars ability.

With his input though i expect the car to improve.......

Definetly, I think that not only Ferrari, BMW and McLaren are faster than the Renault, but also the RBR and the Toyota, and STR and the Honda are close. Alonso is racing very well and his points are really earned.

wmcot

24th March 2008, 08:39

Don't laugh, but why is Fernando called 'Fred'?

Ask David Hobbs!

leopard

24th March 2008, 08:53

jens

24th March 2008, 11:18

Provided it was true that Toyota has offered him the biggest amount ever before they hired Glock, he was supposed to hear my advice to accept the offer.

Toyota isn't car too far worse than Renault, the Fernando factor would make them the strongest midfielder if not regular podiumer. At least he would have started this season off with beautiful amount of contract in the pocket.

Now I'm actually glad that Alonso hasn't joined Toyota. :p : If that had happened, everyone would be saying that Toyota is so quick only thanks to Alonso... and no-one would praise the team for a good job!

Tazio

24th March 2008, 15:58

Now I'm actually glad that Alonso hasn't joined Toyota. :p : If that had happened, everyone would be saying that Toyota is so quick only thanks to Alonso... and no-one would praise the team for a good job!
Two other more meaningful things would also have happened.
1) Fred would have already gotten that Toyota a podium.
2) Fred would have given due credit to the team!

Tazio

24th March 2008, 16:25

Faisal

24th March 2008, 16:59

I wonder what have been guys in Enstone doing since one year. They had publically announced end to development of R27 and start of work on R28. Now they say some improvements in Spain will help them reduce the gap , I wonder how can they do that when one year of their efforts has been exposed as a complete flop ?

janneppi

24th March 2008, 17:15

Tazio

24th March 2008, 18:33

I remember reading that Renault has their wind tunnel out of service for a while after they managed to blow up an engine there and that did somekind of damage to the tunnel.
Does anyone else have any info about it?
This is all I could find. It's from last July

http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/renault-slow-because-of-wind-tunnel-mistakes-bell/

“Simply put, there was a discrepancy between the car’s predicted performance in the wind tunnel and its behaviour on track.

“We therefore began an extensive test and analysis programme to correct this.

“Some of the problems we discovered had their roots in the 2006 season, but had in fact been masked by our competitiveness at the time.

“We have now identified, and modified, the parts of the car that were causing the problems, and our simulations correlate well with the car’s on-track behaviour.”

samuratt

24th March 2008, 20:03

On the lighter side:

Fernando Alonso says he feels impotent
By h.b. - Mar 24, 2008 - 4:01 PM
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_15723.shtml
Maybe he should try something different:
Like women! :P

I don't know where they got that quotes, but i can sure you that when speaking to spanish media he looks happier than last year even though he has admited the Renault isn't in a position to win right now.

I think this piece of news is trying to make him look like whinning already and that isn't true! ... yet! :D

leopard

25th March 2008, 07:24

Now I'm actually glad that Alonso hasn't joined Toyota. :p : If that had happened, everyone would be saying that Toyota is so quick only thanks to Alonso... and no-one would praise the team for a good job!

I think they will have to remain to thank to Alonso because he will not make random result from 3 to 14, or from 11 to 4. :)