Ask The Apex

[Slyboogy]

Raikkonen went from McLaren to Ferrari in 2007.

Prost did the same in 1990.

Berger did the opposite from those two in 1990, then went straight back to Ferrari in 1993.

I'm sure there are few more.

 

[RasputinLives]

Alain Prost went from Mclaten to Ferrari in 1990

Gerhard Berger went from Ferrari to Mclaren in 1990 and then from Mclaren to Ferrari in 1993.

Kimi also went from Mclaren to Ferrari in 2007.

There may be more but there the ones off the top of my head.

 

[RasputinLives]

missed those bloody posts! sorry!

 

[FB]

Gilles Villeneuve from McLaren to Ferrari, or is that pushing it a bit?

 

[RasputinLives]

Niki Lauda?

 

[FB]

He went to Brabham in between RasputinLives, and had a couple of years off.

 

[RasputinLives]

My pre-late 80's F1 knowledge shown up again!

Has there ever been a world champion who has not won a GP prior to his championship year?

 

[FB]

Jack Brabham took his first win in his Championship year of 1959. Other than that it's Nino Farina as he won the first Championship in 1950...

 

[FB]

I could also discount Mika Hakkinen's "win" at the European GP in 1997 as he sort of finished first rather than won it. Others might disagree.

 

[teabagyokel]

My pre-late 80's F1 knowledge shown up again!

Has there ever been a world champion who has not won a GP prior to his championship year?

Keke Rosberg did, I think Hulme might have as well.

 

[FB]

Forgot about Keke...

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Denny Hulme in 1967 at monaco teabagyokel

 

[Olivier]

Jack Brabham took his first win in his Championship year of 1959. Other than that it's Nino Farina as he won the first Championship in 1950...

If we are annoyingly precise, Farina won GPs before 1950 ...

 

[Brogan]

I finally have the answer!

The Mercedes engines over the last few years have been designated:
2009 - FO 108W
2010 - FO 108X
2011 - FO 108Y
2012 - FO 108Z

So naturally this year it's FO 108F

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/page/mp4-28-technical-specification

 

[Mephistopheles]

Maybe the "F" stands for "Final" and in the last one... Brogan

 

[Brogan]

Yes, that was my thought too Mephistopheles.

When I have the time I'll post an article about the new Mercedes engine for 2014 as it is (obviously) significantly different.

 

[Jos the Boss]

Not too sure where to post this, didn't seem worthy of a new thread but...

 

[downforce]

I've asked this before several times (not on this forum) and never got a response.

What does the Technical Director do? Is he the main car designer or is that someone else?
Is Adrian Newey "technical director" at Red-Bull or head car designer, head of aerodynamics or something else?

 

[Brogan]

Roles vary slightly from team to team (depending on how many chiefs they have - see Mercedes) but the TD is generally responsible for the overall car (design), pulling together the various departments working on it.

Adrian Newey is listed as the Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull, which may or may not be the same as TD.

 

[Josh]

Another question regarding roles in a team: what does a Sporting Director do? In the case of Sam Michael it seems his job description more or less comes down to "scapegoat" but that's probably not what he's really been hired for.