• Winter in Words

The winter of discontent

Nothing has looked quite right at Red Bull so far this winter © Getty Images

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With testing over and done with for another year, we bring you some of the most memorable quotes from the winter world of Formula One pre-season.

"It's ridiculous, I've never heard such a joke in all my life. Talk about tinsel town bulls***!"

Eddie Irvine gives a small hint he is on the "not in favour" side of the double points argument.

"This is the tenth day of testing and we are about ten days behind I reckon."

A pretty damning statement from Red Bull's Christian Horner would have been music to the ears of some of the world champions' title rivals, even if they did not admit it.

"So they are not fast, paid to race and highly uninteresting on top of it. It is tough for F1 right now."

Jacques Villeneuve makes it abundantly clear he is not a fan of F1 these days.

"It's a bloody difficult time because it's a difficult car."

Sebastian Vettel reveals his true feelings about Red Bull's RB10 as pre-season testing comes to an end.

"They are uglier. I think we have to be honest with our fans and ourselves first of all."

After the unveiling of a series of unorthodoxes noses, Fernando Alonso admits he is just not that in to the 2014 crop of F1 cars.

"They look like they have a stunning car, and usually the more beautiful it is the faster it is. I'm sure they'll have a very quick car."

Lewis Hamilton disagrees with his old rival however, insisting Red Bull's RB10 is actually pretty easy on the eye.

"I said it was going to be like this … a total farce…..They talk about saving fuel. They don't need these new engines to achieve that. They should get smaller motorhomes."

After seeing limited running on the opening day in Jerez, Bernie Ecclestone issues a late and rather empty "I told you so"….

"Even, however, making allowances for the lapse of time and Mr Ecclestone's age, I am afraid that I find it impossible to regard him as a reliable or truthful witness……The payments were a bribe."

…But Ecclestone should perhaps be more concerned with the closing statements of Justice Newey with a bribery court case still to come.

"It gets exciting when we get to racing again."

The master of deadpan Kimi Raikkonen leaves no doubts about his true opinions of pre-season testing.

"Seb, meanwhile has sent us a postcard, and says he's really sorry for all the fuss. He'll be back soon but has decided to chill for a while by spending a couple of weeks watching daytime soaps and eating crisps 'round at Mark's house."

Red Bull makes light of Sebastian Vettel's intense rivalry with former team-mate Mark Webber. We assume the soap would have been Neighbours.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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