Alonso, F1 and Audi?
 

Crazy rumor of the day:

Audi To Enter F1 In 2016 With Fernando Alonso Onboard?

Makes no sense to me, but what do I know?

It looks like they need a new team or two. Not so good for Austin with a small grid even though they're at the back.

Sounds far-fetched to me (Alonso joining a startup this late in his career) but what do I know. I predicted Hamfisted would fade to obscurity when he joined Merc.

I think it would be great if Audi decided to race F1 and let Porsche re-establish a dominant presence in endurance racing.

Hey, we had one couple cancel out of our Austin trip. Does anybody want to buy two 3-day passes to Turn 15 Grandstands Top-Level??? You'll be sitting with 4 friends from the Porsche Owners Club and their wives. Please let me know. There is no refund and I hate to sell them at the event to complete strangers.

PM me if interested.

Porsche and Audi competing in Le Mans doesn't make 100% since because both companies have the same owners, now that Porsche has returned to Le Mans, Audi going to F1, while Porsche carries the torch at Le Mans makes more since, then the last time there were rumors about one of the two going to F1.

Audi says it isn't true, so it must be ;)

I think Fred will either go to McLaren or Lotus for a year and then to the open Mercedes seat in 2016. Audi is just a rumor to stir up interest and contract dollars.

As for Audi in F1, they could be looking for a place to race and compete with Mercedes. F1 though is a whole new ball game with "power units." It is an overall system, from the mechanical grip to the power delivery and braking. Ferrari got it wrong as well as Renault. Both teams were competing for wins last year and are now are not. Vettel complained about his braking and set up not meeting his driving style. Fred just drives the shoes off what ever he is in, but still cannot push the Ferrari to the front. If Audi thinks they can just throw some coin in the ring and make a good engine that is dominant... good luck. Make a dog that trolls in the back and you do more damage to your reputation than it is worth in people seeing your brand on tv.

BS or not there are some key pieces starting to for here:
1. Audi hired Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari's former F1 Director)
2. Red Bull is already involved with the VW group, they could buy the toro rosso team. Red Bull is also unhappy with the renault power unit.
3. Now Alonso....

assuming Audi can build a better power unit then Renault, where on the grid would a Toro Rosso driven by Alonso end up?

1. Fred? Goes to Woking and those Honda guys

2. Audi: Piech has said VW (and any other VW owned group) will not go to F1 unless... he is dead or Bernie is dead, (yeah, their not real good friends).:D

Initially the new F1 hybrid engine was gonna be a 4cyl turbo, which Audi also makes a lot of - made sense. Now with F1 F1 backing down due to Ferrari pressure to a 6 (fat lot of good it did Ferrari), maybe not... A lot of what you guys posted makes sense as far as logical reasons for Audi to join, but logic long ago deserted F1 ;-)

It's more likely Alonso wants a shorter deal with McLaren-Honda so he can bail to Mercedes when Ham-Ros divorce after another bitter feud season. I happen to like Audi where it's at, prototypes are cool and still seem more relevant to road cars, and Audi vs. Porsche vs. Toyota is a fascinating battle. Too bad the rest of the season outside LeMans isn't televised more widely...

Fox Sports 1 usually carries the other WEC races about 3 months after the fact. :rolleyes: They are almost painful to watch though, very chopped up with 6hr races condensed into about 40 minutes minus the commercials. Almost not worth watching except to see the cars at speed.