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[racechick]

A pre season thread for things about 2015 that don't quite fit anywhere else.

First one is that it's rumoured both Mclaren and Mercedes will change their livery. Mercedes to go to a mirror like Chrome and McLaren either orange or white( depending whether they have a sponsor)

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/merce ... 015-report

[What's Burning?]

I posted about the chrome livery in another thread, silver arrows will be nice and polished silver arrows now. I think it's written somewhere in the Honda/McLaren agreement that the livery would be the Senna special.

[What's Burning?]

We also have to account for the two races Ferrari plans on winning this year. Will it be Kimi and Seb both winning one each?

Ferrari’s new team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has set his Italian squad a minimum target of at least two Grand Prix victories for 2015, in what the Scuderia admit will be ‘a year of reconstruction’ as they bid to return to title contention.

[Hammer278]

Woohoo look forward to see how they gel silver and teal this time around. It could look pretty cool....or horrible.

[The Second Coming]

Hmmm...a mirror-like chrome, eh? Well, this will give our Lewis a place to check out and adjust his coif before going up onto the podium. He does like to sort out his grooming properly post-race. (His mummy raised him well.)

Such fun!

[1Lemon]

Woohoo look forward to see how they gel silver and teal this time around. It could look pretty cool....or horrible.

It could be really cool.

Or really really really awful.

"Hamilton wins but we've not seen him all race as the livery is just too gross to look at, I'm sure Rosberg, who finished 0.02s behind him had a close battle, but we don't want to see it just incase we see that livery" - D. Coulthard.

[What's Burning?]

The Merc cars before were more like the Pewter Arrows.

[CookinFlat6]

We also have to account for the two races Ferrari plans on winning this year. Will it be Kimi and Seb both winning one each?

Ferrari’s new team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has set his Italian squad a minimum target of at least two Grand Prix victories for 2015, in what the Scuderia admit will be ‘a year of reconstruction’ as they bid to return to title contention.

Ferrari are real experts at managing expectations, luckily they have had Alonso to add reality to the sound bites. I wonder how many heads will roll at the annual Monza mea culp cull fest this time round

[LiamCatterson]

If McLaren went back to thier Honda livery they had back in the day, I think I'd be happy. It would bring that great sense of nostalgia into F1

[What's Burning?]

Honda are big on the Senna nostalgia... let's see.

[youtube]cKj1RdsG8as[/youtube]

It might be nice to have the same livery but with orange and white instead.

This clip does give you chills watching it.

[What's Burning?]

just hit me, now that Sutil is out, what track side GF will they be focusing the cameras on this season?

[CookinFlat6]

Hopefully she will have moved on to a racing driver with a seat for the season

[The Second Coming]

It's a bit tiresome to read varying sources report the same details of Toto Wolff saying that Alonso and Bottas are his first and second choice should negotiations break down with Lewis in the next 12 months. A cheap negotiating ploy, particularly for Mercedes standards. Why would you, Toto, volunteer such a detail or, if it is the case, be drawn on such a matter by a reporter? The guy just brought you the lion-share of points to help the team win its first WCC since eons ago. He also brought home 11 winners trophies (vs his team-mate's 5) to weigh down the shelves of your prized trophy room. He's kept his nose clean...didn't stoop to taking out competitors to beat them, didn't do dirty parking stunts either. Didn't need to prove a point in a malicious way. He, Lewis is the icon of the sport currently. When you want to sell something, he's the one you put in front of a camera because he is both known and widely admired worldwide. The sponsors love Lewis for his marquee credentials and global appeal. All this and the first chance you get, you send him a clear message that you're not too committed to him. Yes, Toto, you run a business and contract negotiations mean something to both parties but why, as they say in the hood, put your business in the street? For the layman, that expression means airing your differences publicly. (You're welcome. )

So if I get this right, the Mercedes brand wants to...prefers to associate itself with people who are of questionable means/character. You would think Nico would be the one they put on hard notice based on his behavior. Interesting. The sidebar here is, if you listen carefully to our Ron of McLaren fame, his deal with Fred Alonso is for multiple years so at the earliest, he would be available for season 2017.

Just when you think, "Hey, I could really grow to have a long-term courtship with the Mercedes brand," they do something to make you feel like you should be having a look over the fence at the neighbor's wife instead. (Emm...that came out funny...but you know what I mean.)

Dutty business, this!

[CookinFlat6]

That quote was actually a confirmation of what he had said a while ago. If you remember ages ago he mentioned these targets, its not new, just the 'boycotts' creating clickbait and providing a frisson of excitability for those who see Lewis' demise around every corner.

Another distortion is when they say Nico was given a new contract 'quickly' - the truth is that Nico was given a new contract a few months before his old one finished, so the 'boycotters' always forget to mention the fact that this would be equivalent to Lewis agreeing a new contract halfway through 2015.

F1 history tells us that a driver who has just won a WDC in a dominant car will be at his most attractive to other teams and will be at his least attractive to his current team, thats just logic, a team who have just plastered the others will play the 'we have the best car' card, and the driver will be less appreciated than if he had done well in their crap car.

But the thing to look at here is not the sound bites rehashed by the media in every single instance of this horse trading for the most status (i.e the biggest wage on the grid) but the actual 'balance sheet' for the paymasters. Its a business, therefore it doesnt matter how fast Lewis is or how good the car is, what really matters is what they stand to lose with Lewis at a rival team. Merc are not calling the shots here because its not really about money - its about covering all the bases.

The misguided always say idotic things like Guttierez could have won in that Merc, yes he could, however with Lewis and Alonso at other teams, those other teams now have most of the puzzle, the rest is simply spending money, poaching staff etc. A team like Merc would rather pay a salary to Lewis and Alonso and send them on holiday for the season rather than have them running amock at rival tams who could spend the money and do what Merc did to Mclaren - poach their best staff

Lewis at Honda with Alonso would not be the Mercs marketing departments idea of a great way of saving the kind of money they make in a few days

[The Second Coming]

I hear ya, Cookin. The balance sheet plays a role but at least wait until Lewis shows up to say he wants $50mil/yr, 3 Black Series AMGs, all his race cars and a partridge in a pair tree. Then I can see Mercedes/Toto take a position of looking for talent elsewhere that won't cost them an arm & a leg. Right now, no one has their feet under the negotiating table yet. So why not do what's right...keep all employee contract issues in-house until you have to look outside. Don't put all this nonsense in public domain. It does no one any good. In Lewis' case, it may even do him harm...he can't possibly feel great about the situation right now. Before a spec of dust has time to even settle on the WCC and WDC trophies, Mercedes are talking about other drivers. Yes, that's F1 but I thought Mercedes was all about the brand and wouldn't need to resort to such foolishness. I know...I'm wrong for having greater expectations of people.