Q: How does the Testing of Previous Car programs work for engine customer teams in F1? My understanding was that customer teams return engines at the end of the season or when the engine’s life is up. With Haas and Toyota having a partnership, will Toyota be receiving engines from Ferrari to run the old Haas cars? I don’t understand why Ferrari would let another engine manufacturer have access to its engines in that way, or why Toyota would want to advertise on the current car that it doesn’t have anything to do with from a manufacturing standpoint.
Will Coffey
CM: I wouldn’t describe it as Toyota receiving engines – they’re going to be the Ferrari power units that Haas has already, and the TPC program will be possible because some Toyota personnel are able to join the Haas operation, but it’s still a Haas-run project. Haas will likely be paying Ferrari to keep or repurpose the two-year-old PUs for testing purposes, but it will still be Ferrari engineers running the power unit as is the case with customer teams – they have people embedded from the works manufacturer – so there’s no real access there for Toyota. Ayao Komatsu also told me that there are agreements in place about protecting IP from both sides, so there are no concerns on that front.
In terms of Toyota advertising, it gives them huge reach and exposure. Right now it’s even better for Toyota because for zero effort it gets the visibility F1 offers – even this question and answer is coverage it wouldn’t have had – but moving forward, that visibility will be alongside its technical and manufacturing input.
Q: How has Sauber/Audi not signed Bottas? He’s a proven winner in a good car, he’s helped develop a championship-winning car, has eight wins, and Hamilton said he was the best teammate ever. Why is there seemingly no interest? (Maybe there is but we don’t know about it.)
I’d hate to see him close out his career and I think he’d be an asset to any team.
Jim Doyle, Hoboken, NJ
CM: My information is that Valtteri is very much on Sauber/Audi’s shortlist, to the extent that some sources suggest it’s a done deal that hasn’t been announced yet. There have been other names in the frame though, and lots of different discussions, so I haven’t been able to confirm anything at this stage, but there is definitely interest and I think he’s the most likely driver that will be alongside Nico Hulkenberg next year.
Q: August 19, 1975 was the darkest day in Penske Racing history: What started out two days earlier as a tire failure on Mark Donohue’s March 751-Ford at the Hella Licht corner at Osterreichring resulting in him having a “bad headache” ended up killing him two days later.
I’ll never forget that dark afternoon, hearing the news on Philly’s WCAU 1210, as Donohue was a local hero from nearby Marcus Hook, PA; and due to his influence, put me on the path to engineering school.
Fast forward to Sunday’s Cup race at Las Vegas, and this troubling tweet by Kelly Crandall crossed my feed:
Ryan Blaney radioed he was struggling and wanted Advil or something during the race. I asked what he was feeling: “My head was killing me. When we broke the right rear toe link, flopping all around in there me trying to get back to pit road, and you just get to freakin’…
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) October 20, 2024
[Data point No. 1: We’ve also already in just the last year had Simon Pagenaud and Kurt Busch – both of whom, incidentally, previously raced for Penske – forced into retirement due to head injuries. ]
Given that NASCAR is a half-assed sanctioning body as well as RP’s history with his first big star (sorry, Gary Bettenhausen), does Team Penske have its own concussion protocol which goes above and beyond NASCAR’s?
[Data point No. 2: While CART/IRL/IndyCar has used the services of Doctors Henry Bock, Terry Trammell and Steve Olvey – outstanding trauma surgeons all – for many years F1 used Dr. Sid Watkins, who was a top British neurosurgeon. Hmm…]
Separately, when CART went bankrupt, IRL bought its medical trailer, which included a CT scanner. Does NASCAR now have a similarly-equipped state-of-the-art medical trailer?
Dan Schwartz
KELLY CRANDALL: I am unaware of any internal protocols at Team Penske. A driver is responsible for working with their individual doctors to be cleared when a medical incident arises. After he was sidelined, Kurt Busch had to work with his doctors on getting cleared to return, which he never did. Chase Elliott, after the skiing accident, had to work with his doctors to be cleared to race again.
NASCAR has the drivers go through baseline tests at the beginning of the season that can be referred back to when needed, and then there is the protocol they must pass in the infield care centers after each crash. Blaney went through that after Saturday’s crash in practice. If he is continuing to feel bad this week, it is up to him to take the steps necessary.
Q: I’d have to assume that someone keeps score of the NASCAR drivers’ points the “old fashioned way.” If there were no stage points and playoffs, who’d be the leader?
Shawn, MD
KC: I’m sure someone is keeping score but I don’t know why when the playoffs have been in place for 21 years (and in its current format for 11 years). Who cares who the leader would be? It means nothing.
Q: Love those photos/captions. Hilarious. MORE JARNO TRULLI!
John Becker
MARK GLENDENNING: Glad you enjoy them! Jarno became the Mailbag mascot by accident. When something big happens (say, a championship-winning team is found to be fudging with Push to Pass), that usually translates into us getting 11 pages of Mailbag letters about it, which potentially means needing to find 11 photos of the same team owner looking serious. That’s no fun for anybody, plus we’d probably run out of usable photos.
So I started dealing with those scenarios by ignoring the subject of the letters completely and just hunting for the most random photos I could find, and began to notice the vast range of things that Jarno Trulli was talked into doing for photographers over the years. There’s Jarno petting a cat. Jarno wearing a silly hat and pretending to captain a ferry. Jarno inspecting a production line. Jarno with a cow. We haven’t yet run a shot from Jarno’s phase of wearing his hair in a little top-knot that made him look a bit like a pineapple, but it’ll happen at some point.
Two things to note though. First, it’s all done with nothing but love and respect for Trulli. The first Monaco GP I covered happened to be his first and only win in 2004; I interviewed him several times over the years, and he was unfailingly easy to work with. In Hungary one time we had a very long and pleasant chat about his winery, Podere Castorani. (The wines are worth checking out if you can find them – really good quality at their price point).
And second, his Mailbag appearance last week was the first one that actually related to a letter. I was double-checking Toyota’s best finish in a grand prix, and it turned out Trulli equaled it with his second place in the 2009 Japanese GP. That was Toyota’s (and Trulli’s) final podium, and came in Toyota’s third-last race before it left F1.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, October 21, 2015
Q: I’d seen you refer to Elmer George in previous answers and I understand that he was Mari’s husband and Tony’s father and a VP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But I want to know if he was a good race driver?
M. Jennings, Calistoga, CA
ROBIN MILLER: Elmer was the 1957 USAC Midwest sprint car champion and won 11 features during his career. He was called ‘King of the High Banks’ for his prowess at Winchester, Salem and Dayton (shown ABOVE with A.J. Foyt) and captured his one and only USAC Champ Car main event at Syracuse, N.Y. in 1957. He made three starts at Indianapolis (1957, 1962 & 1963) with a best finish of 17th and best start of ninth in ’57 but never took the green flag after tangling with Eddie Russo on the pace lap.