Eric Boullier wrote: "It's not just that I had to defend myself to the outside, I had to get together my people in the factory and tell them that there's nothing to it. Rumours spread quickly in a racing car factory."
...
"But they should know that I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere"
James Allen stated before Xmas that it's believed Total will be focusing on Red Bull from now on.Manoah2u wrote:So what happened to TOTAL?!?!?! i thought i remembered a 'deal' has been worked out with PDVSA and Total, yet, i see ZERO total on the teaser??!?! Did that mean total is exit??????
Thanks, missed out on that one.Jonnycraig wrote:James Allen stated before Xmas that it's believed Total will be focusing on Red Bull from now on.Manoah2u wrote:So what happened to TOTAL?!?!?! i thought i remembered a 'deal' has been worked out with PDVSA and Total, yet, i see ZERO total on the teaser??!?! Did that mean total is exit??????
Whitmarsh to Lotus???
Deposed McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh could switch to Lotus for 2014, an insider has confirmed.
Lotus’ former chief, Eric Boullier, is the hot favourite to replace Whitmarsh at Woking, even though McLaren is not ready to confirm it.
“New car but no boss”, read the headline at the weekend by the Spanish newspaper Diario Sport.
A team spokesman was quoted by Germany’s Die Welt: “We are not talking at the moment about our management leadership.”
On the other hand, Lotus’ team owner Gerard Lopez has said he is replacing Boullier, bu
t some have questioned Lopez’s commitment to F1.
For instance, the Luxembourger was spotted in the paddock only a handful of times in 2013.
“Without going into detail,” Lopez told France’s RMC, “I had very serious health problems (last year).
“I’m not one to talk about my privacy, but I found it a bit hurtful to hear that my lack of presence was because I have no interest in F1 when in reality I was in a hospital bed.
“But this is the world of F1, where we do not seek to understand, we judge,” he added.
Nonetheless, speculation Whitmarsh is a leading candidate to be Lotus’ longer term team boss is now rife.
“There has been contact with Martin,” an insider with close links to Lotus told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.
“He is not necessarily the only name they have approached. There are perhaps three but he might be the most appealing of them, given his experience at McLaren.”
they have a strong tie with renault being their former f1 team so i'm sure there are some people that have connections.AnthonyG wrote:Could they have spotted the problem in advance on one of their testbeds?
(Yet, that wouldn't make sense if they didn't report it to Renault)
Manoah2u wrote:they have a strong tie with renault being their former f1 team so i'm sure there are some people that have connections.AnthonyG wrote:Could they have spotted the problem in advance on one of their testbeds?
(Yet, that wouldn't make sense if they didn't report it to Renault)
redbull's story bout a spring mounted wrong and not going all day then having these troubles seems to indicate they're not telling the full truth and might be in the know, too.
and yes, i'm feeling like the enstone team knew more. bouilliers words now start to make more sense;
perhaps they didn't expect redbull or caterham to be there because of these renault issues.
i think renault demanded they'll go there anyway to save their image......
really starting to think this renault issue is way bigger then suspected.
i'm really starting to think lotus might end up with a merc powerplant.
that doesn't make sense to me. why would red bull make themselves look stupid by installing a spring upside down if it was renault's engine issue the whole time? it's not like it was a secret to keep, renault has even admitted there's an issue themselves.Manoah2u wrote:redbull's story bout a spring mounted wrong and not going all day then having these troubles seems to indicate they're not telling the full truth and might be in the know, too.
offcourse it would need some attention, but again - the brawn bgp001 was designed as a honda chassis with a honda engine in mind. yet, brawn spooned a merc engine in there last-minute and sailed it home into a WCC+WDC car.skoop wrote:would that even be possible design wise? i guess the mounting points would be completly different
5.3.5 Power unit mountings may only comprise six M12 studs for connection to the survival cell andskoop wrote:would that even be possible design wise? i guess the mounting points would be completly different