Roar Guru
Joined June 2015
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Trent Price is an amateur race driver, former V8 race coach and FIA Accredited journalist from Melbourne, Australia. A former Race Editor for GP Week and contributor for ESPN, Trent lends occasional correspondence to ABC Grandstand and is now the Editor of the WEC/Formula E magazine E-Racing; www.e-racingmag.com. Catch his vague motorsport-related twitter ramblings at @realtrentprice
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Just when you thought there was nothing left to be squeezed out of the 2016 season, Mercedes might be about to buy Lewis Hamilton…
Nico Rosberg might be the first reigning World Champion to end his career since Alain Prost in 1993, but there's something more to take…
“Formula E is currently planned as an additional project and our decision making for next year is completely separated from that,” he explained. “Work…
Ross Brawn isn't the new Bernie Ecclestone – because two titans simply don't go into one. Brawn's appointment, or alleged appointment if we're to…
Communication might be key in motorsport, but given the millions spent at the top tiers, it never ceases to amaze me when Formula One…
“Something doesn't feel right. I just can't believe that there's eight Mercedes and only mine are the ones that have gone this way." "Something…
Formula One was forced to retreat from New York after two failed attempts to host a street circuit in New Jersey and must now…
Late in 2014 I had the great fortune of being able to sit with Japan's pre-eminent Formula One hero Aguri Suzuki, to chat about…
“Maybe I was a little bit quicker than my grandmother!” laughed Massa, making a hasty retraction from his radio statement to engineer Rob Smedley…
They said they'd never make it, yet season three of Formula E is closer than a softly-spoken Judge Reinhold. As the first week of…
Uneventful races, single-team domination, constant rule changes, predictable grids and untranslatable technologies have all been charges laid at Formula One's decline in ratings and…
With James Allison's seemingly inevitable departure as Ferrari's Technical Director, it has come at the most inopportune time for the Maranello outfit, as the…
Just a month after the drama of Le Mans, the FIA World Endurance Championship resumes with the 6 Hours of Nürburgring, with considerable domestic…
Formula One's ticklish accord over driver-to-pit radio restrictions took another turn over the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, with Force India's top brass demanding the…
The London ePrix will decide whether Lucas di Grassi or Sebastien Buemi will succeed Nelson Piquet Jr as the champion of the world's only…
There were just two minutes left on the clock, when Kazuki Nakajima's number five Toyota TS050 began to slow after the second Mulsanne chicane.…
Toyota has had defeat stolen from the jaws of victory in one of the closest battles in recent Le Mans history. Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony…
Fine details can sometimes be the difference at Le Mans. Not just between winning or losing, but even finishing a race or packing up…
Formula E's 2016-17 calendar might have omitted its grandstand UK event, however new venues Hong Kong and Marrakech seek to build early momentum that…
Windows of operation are curious things. As humans we are programmed to be habitual and unless consistently confronted with change, our ability to adapt…
Possible they could receive year old engines from Ferrari.
How Ferrari's form has robbed Red Bull
Always interesting to hear an outside view. There’s two intrinsic things I’ve noticed re: sound. 1. You hear things that were previously masked by combustion engines; the sound of the gearbox, tyres and condition of the circuit. 2. You know hear the roar of the crowd (pun intended). It’s a brave new world that even the mot hardened motor sport critics are coming around to.
Villeneuve's Formula E sidestep
Who knows! V8 Supercars might eventually be headed towards the DTM model… 😉
Has Formula One become a one-woman Wolff pack?
You have to look closely at how the DTM championship is managed. If you’re not in a current car you’re always going to be down the back. That Wolff was less than a tenth off in inferior machinery speaks volumes. The series realised this and integrated DRS to spice up the racing – a little too late for Wolff however given she’d already moved to Williams.
Hopefully her groundwork will pave the way for the next generation of female racers.
Has Formula One become a one-woman Wolff pack?
It’s a tough one isn’t it. The Clark/Chapman partnership was brilliant from a technical point of view, yet Jim was noted for simply driving around problems in much the same way Ronnie Peterson. Setting the car up better wouldn’t necessarily make the car any faster but it would make it reliable. Alonso’s metronomic consistency though tends do deviate from this rule. I’ve spoken with a few of Schumacher’s former engineers who told me he could make a ‘pointy’ car seem like the most drivable thing on the planet where it would terrify other drivers. Yet, Michael was renowned for his attention to detail. So many variables, so little word space.
Cracking the Vettel vs Alonso debate
I think having a car even close to Mercedes in terms of performance will hand them an advantage given Brackley are still making forced (and unforced) errors.
Cracking the Vettel vs Alonso debate
Agreed. Clooney’s signature head-wobble would’ve clashed horribly with Heath Ledger’s, Jack Lemmon ‘Some Like It Hot’ pastiche. I’m forever grateful that Joel Schumacher never designed race suits.
Cracking the Vettel vs Alonso debate
I never recall Lauda having anything bad to say about a Ferrari…
Cracking the Vettel vs Alonso debate
As we’ve seen by the number of band-aid approaches F1 has implemented in the name of ‘improving the show’, there appears to be a foolhardy fascination with chasing a casual audience at the expense of their core fan-base. Wittling down media numbers will only further serve to alienate the die-hards who have an insatiable appetite for information. It’s 2015! The myth of exclusivity improving F1’s cachet will be the sports undoing.
Formula One refuses to grapple with Azerbaijan dilemma
IndyCar’s tv ratings have been growing incrementally throughout this season, with substantial audience gains being made (in the U.S. at least) between Texas and Iowa. That said, the switch from ABC to NBC Sports Network hasn’t seemed to have done the promoters any favours, although there are probably a myriad of reasons for the drop off.
IndyCar: The best series too few are watching
One thing I did notice in that race was the good-will that was extended to fellow drivers (even those involved in skirmishes), something usually reserved for MotoGP. Shame it took such a tragic event for them to take off the blinkers.
From surreal to bizarre: Hungarian Grand Prix caps off emotional week for Formula One
The new start procedures could actually work in Lewis’s favour. We’ll have to wait and see.
The token system is creating yet another unnecessary variable in trying to spice up the championship. Tighter rules don’t reduce costs.
Mercedes feeling the squeeze
As self-inflicted wounds go this one was executed with both barrels! If IndyCar’s head honchos had any common-sense (and yes you already answered that question), they’d realise that the very existence of Rule 9.3.8 violates Rule 9.3.8. An enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in one of Jean Marie Balestre’s old socks.
New competitor conduct guidelines a major step back for IndyCar
Staging the race so late was regrettably outside the control of the governing body and left in the hands of the promoters. There were intense discussions Saturday night in an effort to bring the race forward that fell of deaf ears. Ironically, now that a change has been made, its the promoters taking the high ground about safety.
Had Formula One become complacent with safety?
In terms of parity, Balance of Performance is still a hot topic in sports cars. Unfortunately the concept doesn’t support privateer teams as its harder to ‘hide the trick technology’ when you’ve got more cars on the grid. Ferrari and Audi (to their credit) does a fantastic job at this whereas Aston Martin tend to keep things in house – their prerogative of course. Ratel seems to be doing a pretty good job in the parity stakes, but you can never please everyone!
V8s move on sports cars with extreme prejudice
Thanks Nordster. There’s a fantastic opportunity here for all involved if they decide to play nice. The early 90’s were an excellent example of how World Touring Cars, F1, NASCAR and Indycars could all prosper without resorting to subterfuge. Now is not the time to draw a line in the sand.
V8s move on sports cars with extreme prejudice
You’re right Michael. Much has been written about the events at Suzuka last year; some with the best of intentions, others regrettably not so much. Not sure how you feel Michael, but it was like I wasn’t even there, given I had very little to add given the situation. Just let the experts do what they have to do.
Whilst attending a supertouring car race at Phillip Island in 1995, I witnessed Gregg Hansford’s Ford Mondeo slide off the track and hit a tyre wall at high speed, bounce back onto the track where it was hit by a Peugeot 405 at over 200 km/h. Seeing the reactions from Hansford’s crew was something I’ll never forget. I wanted to dissappear. Only a year before a racing colleague of my father’s lost his life at Bathurst in the most public way imaginable; a shocking indoctrination to the dangers of motorsport.
For some, Suzuka was no different. Perhaps I’m slightly jaded, but I found the delirium that ensued in the wake of Bianchi’s accident overly caustic. As a senior paddock figure reminded me a few weeks later, we’d just lost three jockeys in the space of three days – all failing to make the headlines. Regardless of the sport or category, there will always be that 1% scenario that hasn’t been accounted for. We try to learn and move forward, but this regrettably won’t be the last time.
What legacy should Jules Bianchi leave?
Having multiple R&D depts working on the same brief (as is currently the case) is hardly cost-effective and ultimately results in everyone’s jobs. The smaller teams wouldn’t be buying a chassis so much as constructing their own, in conjunction with other midfield teams to produce a car that potentially can be suited to a variety of power units.
Cost cap however may not be a long way off. Given customer cars and cost caps were on the cards just before Max Mosley’s departure, there is movement from his camp once again – but not in the form you’d expect.
The Formula One customer's right to fight
Bottas-Ferrari report in Italy, Williams: “don’t comment on driver contracts”, Ferrari: “nothing has changed”
So all of the above could be true
Bottas reportedly signs €12 million deal with Ferrari
I think it’s time F1 unreservedly held out its hand to America. As a sports promoter they have the runs on the board.
Time for Formula One to get real on promotion
Thanks Davi. In the absence of even a vaguely egalitarian structure, the only option left for the small teams is to help themselves. I’d like to see it happen but I’m not holding my breath!
The Formula One customer's right to fight
You can’t simulate a 1990’s IndyCar experience.
Do gamers have the edge in Formula One?