nudge

Wow didn't realise it was THAT serious

Have fun in Croatia... There's promotion system in pub darts?

Haha I'm just a motorsports freak and watch or follow pretty much all major racing events. With the exception of Formula E but that will also change next season as Porsche enters the series!

Well it costs a LOT of money and there's little to none direct return of investment (i.e. teams aren't making profit); the main reason why car manufacturers participate in F1 (or any other motorsport series) is usually marketing and engineering. Marketing/advertising one is obvious but it can also be a double edged sword - it can boost road car sales due to exposure and success, but it can also bring your reputation down if you are a major manufacturer and fail to build a competitive car that delivers. Engineering aspect is a bit more complicated as some technology developed for race cars can be relevant and innovative in road cars too, most of it isn't directly transferable though. For many brands financial cost of running an F1 team just can't be justified. We might get more major car manufacturers joining as engine suppliers under new regulations though. Many major manufacturers have taken part in F1 in one way or another in the past. Talking about the ones you mentioned, Ford actually developed the Cosworth engine in the late 60s that was very successful and they also competed as a team in F1 under the Jaguar name until 2005 but then sold its assets to Red Bull due to rising costs and little on-track success. They were said to be somewhat interest in a potential return due to hybrid technology which is highly relevant to their road cars but only if there are budget caps as they still consider it too costly. On top of that, they run a successful GT programme in IMSA and WEC and participate in NASCAR and rally. BMW spent numerous years in F1 too both as engine supplier and as a team (with Sauber) but in the end the costs were deemed to high and they now concentrate their efforts in touring and GT cars. Chevrolet target audience is pretty much the US so it makes more sense for them to participate in IMSA, NASCAR and Indy instead of wasting money on a global racing series that aren't too popular in the US compared to the domestic motorsport events. Bugatti doesn't even have a racing programme; their cars are just luxury hypercars showcasing the technology. Many brands are now focusing on Formula E simply because the electric technology is more relevant and so they can use the series to develop it for their road cars. Plus it's also much cheaper. That's also where I could see Tesla in the future instead of F1 as to be fair there's just no point for an electric car manufacturer to join a internal combustion/hybrid power unit based racing series...

Yeah the car was poor; mostly because they couldn't launch a joint bid with Andretti or Penske this year and use a Honda engine due to falling out with them so decided to entry a car on their own and had to resort to using a Chevrolet engine and partner up with Carlin as no other top Chevy teams were interested apparently... Marred with technical problems throughout preparation; not enough practice and speed. They even got setups from Penske and shock absorbers from Andretti right before quali but it wasn't enough.

Uh-oh. Alonso misses out on Indy 500 next weekend due to failing to qualify...

Yeah, it's on my list to watch but I'm currently hooked on Catch-22... three episodes in; three more left - then I'll get back to watching the Warrior

I think you tagged the wrong person here @ManuelNeuerGegenPorto is the newcomer

Why?

Yeah I think so... I have Teo on fb (and had her on Instagram until I deleted my account) but never talk to her... Just thought it's a pity she didn't join us here.

I think @Tommy has him on Facebook; maybe he knows? I wonder why liverbird never re-joined the forum after we moved.

Be nice!

We have a Schalke thread already; merged yours with the original one... Welcome aboard! Why Schalke?

Bargfrede underwent yet another knee surgery and will be out for months again His career has been completely ruined with injuries. Hopefully Baumann finds a proper replacement in defensive midfield for him finally.

Wow... That's a lot. I just checked for flights from Germany out of interest and found a nice "all inclusive" package with flights + 7 nights in a 4 star hotel in Santa Clara for less than 600€ per person Tempted.

Alonso had a crash during Indy 500 practice today (he's ok!). The wrecker transporting his wrecked car then got stuck and wrecked in the garage Patricio O'Ward had quite a crash too (he's fine as well!) I must say I really love those cars though... Old school looks.

Cuba! I haven't been but want to.

Le Mans entry list released! 60 cars grid! LMP1: Nr. Team / Auto Fahrer 1 Fahrer 2 Fahrer 3 1 Rebellion / Oreca-Gibson N. Jani A. Lotterer B. Senna 3 Rebellion / Oreca-Gibson T. Laurent N. Berthon G. Menezes 4 ByKolles / CLM-Nismo T. Dillmann TBA TBA 7 Toyota M. Conway K. Kobayashi J. M. Lopez 8 Toyota S. Buemi K. Nakajima F. Alonso 10 Dragonspeed / BR1-Gibson H. Hedman B. Hanley R. Van Der Zande 11 SMP Racing / BR1-AER V. Petrov M. Aleshin J. Button 17 SMP Racing / BR1-AER S. Sarrazin E. Orudzhev S. Sirotkin LMP2: Nr. Team / Auto Fahrer 1 Fahrer 2 Fahrer 3 20 High Class Racing / Oreca A. Fjördbach D. Andersen TBA 22 United Autosports / Ligier P. Hanson F.Albuquerque TBA 23 Panis Barthez / Ligier R. Binder TBA TBA 25 Algarve Pro Racing / Oreca M. Patterson A. Pizzitola J.Falb 26 G-Drive / Oreca R. Rusinov J. Van Uitert J.E. Vergne 28 TDS Racing / Oreca F. Perrodo M. Vaxivière L. Duval 29 Team Nederland / Dallara F. Van Eerd G. Van Der Garde N. De Vries 30 Duqeine Engineering / Ligier R. Dumas N. Jamin P. Ragues 31 Dragonspeed / Oreca R. Gonzalez P. Maldonado A. Davidson 32 United Autosports / Ligier R.Cullen TBA TBA 34 Inter Europal Competition / Ligier J. Smiechowski TBA TBA 36 Signatech Matmut / Alpine N. Lapierre A. Negrao P. Thiriet 37 Jackie Chan DC / Oreca D. Heinemeier-Hansson J.King R.Taylor 38 Jackie Chan DC / Oreca H. Tung S. Richelmi G. Aubry 39 Graff / Oreca T. Gommendy V.Capillaire J.Hirschi 43 RLR M Sport / Oreca J. Farano A. Maini TBA 47 Cetillar R. Villorba Corse / Dallara R. Lacorte TBA TBA 48 IDEC Sport / Oreca P. Lafargue TBA TBA 49 ARC Bratislava / Ligier M. Konopka TBA TBA 50 Larbre Competition / Ligier E. Creed R. Ricci TBA GTE Pro: Nr. Team / Auto Fahrer 1 Fahrer 2 Fahrer 3 51 AF Corse / Ferrari A. Pier Guidi J. Calado D. Serra 63 Corvette Racing / Corvette J. Magnussen A. Garcia M. Rockenfeller 64 Corvette Racing / Corvette O. Gavin T. Milner M. Fässler 66 Chip Ganassi Racing / Ford S. Mücke O. Pla TBA 67 Chip Ganassi Racing / Ford A. Priaulx H. Tincknell TBA 68 Chip Ganassi Racing / Ford J. Hand D. Müller S. Bourdais 69 Chip Ganassi Racing / Ford R. Briscoe R. Westbrook S. Dixon 71 AF Corse / Ferrari D. Rigon S. Bird M. Molina 81 MTEK / BMW N. Catsburg M. Tomczyk P. Eng 82 MTEK / BMW A. Farfus A. Felix da Costa J. Krohn 89 Risi Competizione / Ferrari P.Derani O.Jarvis J.Gounon 91 Porsche R. Lietz G. Bruni F. Makowiecki 92 Porsche M. Christensen K. Estre L. Vanthoor 93 Porsche P. Pilet E. Bamber N. Tandy 94 Porsche S. Müller M. Jaminet D. Olsen 95 Aston Martin N. Thiim M. Sörensen TBA 97 Aston Martin M. Martin A. Lynn TBA GTE Am: Nr. Team / Auto Fahrer 1 Fahrer 2 Fahrer 3 54 Spirit of Race / Ferrari T. Flohr F. Castellacci G. Fisichella 56 Team Project 1 / Porsche J. Bergmeister P. Lindsey E. Perfetti 57 Car Guy Racing / Ferrari T. Kimura K. Cozzolino TBA 60 Kessel Racing / Ferrari C. Schiavoni TBA TBA 61 Clearwater Racing / Ferrari L. Perez Companc M. Griffin M. Cressoni 62 Weathertech Racing / Ferrari C. MacNeil T.Vilander R.Smith 70 MR Racing / Ferrari M. Ishikawa O. Beretta E. Cheever III 77 Dempsey Proton Racing / Porsche M. Campbell TBA TBA 78 Proton Competition / Porsche L.Prette TBA TBA 83 Kessel Racing / Ferrari M. Gostner R. Frey M. Gatting 84 JMW Motorsport / Ferrari J. Cocker TBA TBA 85 Keating Motorsport / Ford B. Keating J. Bleekemolen F. Fraga 86 Gulf Racing / Porsche M. Wainwright B. Barker TBA 88 Dempsey Proton Racing / Porsche S. Hoshino G. Roda M. Cairoli 90 TF Motorsport / Aston Martin S. Yoluc C. Eastwood TBA 98 Aston Martin Racing P. Dalla Lana P. Lamy M. Lauda 99 Proton Competition / Porsche P. Long TBA TBA

Not sure if Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Tonkin...

For me it's still Sauber anyway

Every team has a number of sponsors. The big lead sponsor is called "a title sponsor" and its name is usually included in the full team name of most constructors in one way or another. For example: Mercedes - Petronas - Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Ferrari - Philip Morris - Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow Red Bull - Aston Martin - Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Haas - Rich Energy - Rich Energy Haas F1 Team etc. You can see an overview here: Sauber uses Ferrari engine and has a technical partnership with them; Ferrari gets to chose one driver for one seat in exchange (this season it's Giovinazi; last season it was Leclerc). Alfa Romeo is not a F1 engine supplier at all but they belong to the same FIAT-Chrysler group as Ferrari so there's a connection there and this connection is also the main reason why Sauber got them as the main sponsor. Engineers and other staff are all Sauber employees though. The name of the company that owns the team is still Sauber Motorsport AG. The ownership and the management structure haven't been changed. The team runs under a Swiss racing license. Alfa Romeo is the main sponsorship partner and since this season, Sauber renamed their team to "Alfa Romeo Racing" as it benefits them financially and gives them more exposure as well. But it's just a name. The companies are not joined in any way.

Obligatory post:

Sauber IS Alfa Romeo. They just sold team naming rights to Alfa this season.