It's LeMans Week!

[F1fanaticBD]

Don't know how Nico's bosses feel about him. I doubt that they hold him as dear as Ferd or Lewis. It is generally true that F1 drivers have clauses in their contracts that prevent them from doing dangerous things, esp. in season. I'm glad for Nico, I don't think he is rated as highly as he should be in F1.

I did mean my comment in jest.

But seriously, given the number of F1 drivers who would love to race LeMans (I presume Hulk wasn't the only one), and that LeMans is supposedly a marketting opportunity, why aren't the F1 drivers out there with their partner teams?

Can you name the partner teams for McLaren, Williams, Lotus or Ferrari in Le Mans Jeri? It does not happen because the teams have binded their drivers with many such clauses that prevent them from participation, and also may be due to their sponsorship committments and their set of rules.

[cosworth151]

McLaren already has a major presence in sports car racing with its 650S GT3 car. Williams & Lotus both get their engines from Mercedes, who build the SLS AMG GT3 car. It wouldn't take much at all to make these cars GTE compliant. Ferrari's 458 Italia took 2nd & 3rd in GTE Pro in this year's race.

BTW, Fisichella has driven a 458 Italia for AF Course (Ferrari's de facto factory team) for the past several years. His car scored a 5th in GTE Pro this year.

[F1fanaticBD]

McLaren already has a major presence in sports car racing with its 650S GT3 car. Williams & Lotus both get their engines from Mercedes, who build the SLS AMG GT3 car. It wouldn't take much at all to make these cars GTE compliant. Ferrari's 458 Italia took 2nd & 3rd in GTE Pro in this year's race.

BTW, Fisichella has driven a 458 Italia for AF Course (Ferrari's de facto factory team) for the past several years. His car scored a 5th in GTE Pro this year.

I wanted to know about the LMP1 class Cossie, but if we consider the GT class, then yes, it will be very easy for many F1 drivers to get into Le Mans.

[F1fanaticBD]

We are (at least I am) delighted to see Nico Hulkenberg win the Le Mans, on debut, but I stumbled upon this article saying Earl Bamber, his team-mate, was also an debutant. It seems incredible to me that a team with two debutant driver, get the win in one of the most coveted prize of motorsports, many legends had failed to get this trophy in their cabinet, and somehow didn't achieve it.

He seems like a decent bloke, and winning Formula BMW beating Riccardo, but I guess somehow lost his mojo along the period, which would have at least made him one of the contender for a racing seat in F1. Seems like he got that back, and I hope he gets more success down the roads.


http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/race/sports-cars/earl-bambers-road-to-le-mans/

[cosworth151]

Also, that car was Porsche's Le Mans only, third car entry. It went on to beat their full-season entries. Quite a feat!

[Alianora La Canta]

Can you name the partner teams for McLaren, Williams, Lotus or Ferrari in Le Mans Jeri? It does not happen because the teams have binded their drivers with many such clauses that prevent them from participation, and also may be due to their sponsorship committments and their set of rules.

McLaren doesn't have one because it does GT3 (the lowest class permitted at Le Mans is GTE, formerly known as GT2).

Williams doesn't have one because it only does F1.

Lotus had one last year in LMP1 but it was a bit of a disaster and Colin Kolles ended up buying it (it's now even more of a disaster - at least Lotus got through the whole week without getting any of their cars disqualified!)

Ferrari has a partner team and it is called AF Corse or SMP depending on which sponsors are in vogue and what proportion of the money they are bringing in a given year (between them they had 1/8 of the grid this year). They do every class except LMP1 and quite a few Ferrari "alumni" are there. However, they don't like the idea of asking drivers to do both F1 and Le Mans in the same year, probably because they were there back when both series were considerably more dangerous.

If F1 teams were in LMP1 there would probably be crossover. However, this is unlikely because Le Mans teams don't fancy trebling their budgets to join the back of the F1 field and F1 teams don't fancy paying the same to run an LMP1 team competitively as they would to run a F1 B-team.