f13.net

Kinda surprised there's no thread so I'll try to kick one off and see if there's any interest so here's a F1 recap so far this season.

F1 was shook up in an attempt to make the sport a bit more exciting and drive down costs. Wings were reduced in the rear and put under major restrictions, common ECU eliminating traction control, slick tires are back, and KERS was introduced. One major cost cutting was the elimation of in season testing. Which has been causing ongoing effects as teams trying to improve their cars have to basically race or test new aero in practice sessions held days before the start of a race event.

Really nice Redbull Racing video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTkVKPdyWs0) covering the changes.

Honda was gone and replaced by a team named after their new principle Ross Brawn who pretty much stepped into the roll to keep the team together.

So far Brawn has ran away with the championship due to some cunning interpretation of the rules aka double diffuser and Honda investing in the 2009 car (they gave up on the 2008 car and started designing for the new rules a long time ago). Redbull has been on their heels tho as they have a very well balanced car.

KERS has totally been a bust for most teams (wasn't a mandated requirement, nor were teams required to run a ballast if they didn't). Ferrari was depending on it keep up but almost all the teams have ripped it out as the cars have come into their own during the season, well except for BMW and McLaren.

McLaren has shut the fsck up as half of their team got caught red handed which resulted in Ron Dennis getting out of dodge early and further firings.

So in the past short while the whole series has gone mental. The ongoing FOTA threats to split into a new series which was all resolved in the end with Max Mosley's head on a platter. Then Massa's accident where he was hit by a bouncing 1kg spring at ~140Mph/hr that fell off a brawn car video of the accident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVmNJPxRy4A). Then the following day during the race Lewis Hamilton took McLaren to their first podium this year.

Now in between the Hungarian GP and Valencia BMW has decided to quit F1 and inturn dinking around with Sauber trying to buy his team back.

With Massa out for the rest of the season,

I like any racing involving dirt or mud.. :grin: Don't really watch much else.

The double diffuser has really screwed up all the changes that the FIA put in to make the cars better.  Until there is clean air behind F1 cars, the entire series will continue to be a funeral procession.


Edit:  Open wheel in the USA is going to hell

Yep and with minor aero changes next year nothing will change :uhrr: it was shocking to watch Hamiltons charge killed by dirty air. KERS showed some promise last weekend (the launches are crazy). Atleast the next race will be interesting for the Schumacher coverage circus. The refueling ban next year will probbly lead to more of the same as no one is going to be running light.


Wow, that's getting to the point of sponsors asking why even support it. Honestly I don't watch the series I really don't like watching oval racing.

For something different, V8 brakes at Bathurst (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnQZ8tyX0ms)

I loves me some F1. The Gf and I watch all the quali and races. Record them all and get up bright an early every saturday and sunday of race weekend to watch.
I am kinda disappointed that MS will not be coming back Source (http://tsn.ca/auto_racing/story/?id=287379)

I am also kinda saddened by the way F1 has been going I would love to see more racing on the track a little som'n like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3tXJm9tYGM)
but oh well I think part of the enjoyment of F1 is the celebrity of it and the soap opera/drama of it all.  :awesome_for_real:

So Schumacher is out but still debate about later this season, not to mention Ferrari wanting to run three cars next year.

Also big news today, FIA overturned stewards race ban of Renault from Valencia. Which is good because the event would be unpopulated due to Alonso's home race. Oh well the season is getting good with a lot of teams now on par and Massa wanting to come back for the Brazil GP  :drill:

Rarely look in this part of the forums, but yes, I've watched every F1 race since 1977.

What's causing Brawn GP problems is getting consistency in tyre temperatures. Something that they have changed on the car is stopping them from finding a balance where they get enough heat in the tyre and the tyre wear is acceptable. Now, when you bear in mind that between every race there's an upgrade that would read like a WoW patch list - hundreds of changes at once, you'll see what a crap shoot the sport has become now that you cannot do any testing. That's too much of a gamble considering even the reduced budgets of a modern F1 team. Besides, F1 is the supposed pinnacle of motorsport - it is supposed to be where we develop new road technology, and that requires constant testing. Is there any surprise at KERS failing when it was introduced at the same time as the most savage cuts in testing in the history of the sport?

The double diffuser hasn't undone the improvements that the changes to the rear wings brought. We're still looking at better air turbulence behind the cars than at any time since the early 80s. Don't forget that the last race was at the laughable Hungoraring. I don't think anybody has ever passed on that race track under race conditions unless they were on a motorcycle. We've had some great passing this season, substandard race circuits notwithstanding.

I'm not surprised that Schumi isn't going to sub for Massa. There would be doubt over whether he could get his neck in shape for an F1 race even if he wasn't carrying an injury. It's not something most people exercise to that level unless they are racing cars.

New rules today http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77775

• Q3 will now be run in low-fuel configuration
• minimum weight has been raised to 620kg

Boring race as expected. Button was rubbish, KERS cars are doing well now that the rest of the cars are sorted.

Badoer has gotta go  :uhrr:

To be fair, he hasn't raced a car in a decade.  Still, very odd behaviour in the pit lane! 

Odd? It's like he thought there was a blue flag, then to cross the white line getting him another drive thro pit lane penalty. Schumacher looked to be in so much pain watching it.  James Allen's blog post (http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/08/what-to-do-about-a-problem-like-badoer/) on it was an interesting read. It must be a total nightmare for Badoer. Years of testing for Ferrari and he gets called up in a dire need to drive a car for a team he's been testing for years and pining to race in only to have this unfold.

It's a total shame for Badoer and I really feel bad for him as he's letting his extended family of Ferrari down.  :heartbreak:

Grosjean did really well too bad the Toyota clipped his front wing, as his Renault was on the race line and (was it Trulli) just smacked him.

I wouldn't be surprised if Schumacher went into overtime getting his neck in shape to take over the car.  And didn't they say Badoer had at least four pit violations during free practice?  What?  Did he push the wrong button or something? 

I know three of them were speeding. The rev limiter kinda stops you but I think a few of them he came flying into the pitlane and was bouncing off of the limiter but it dosen't automatically slow the car down  :ye_gods:

They have two settings on the pit lane speed limiter these days - 80 km/h for most pit lanes, and 60 km/h for street circuits such as Monaco and Valencia. I'm not familiar with whether the driver has to select the setting or if the team is allowed to program it for a particular meeting.

If only Badoer had driven at more than 60 km/h when he was on track.

The simple fact that Badoer was more than a second down in free practice is brutal. The guy's main job for the last 10 years has been testing and running the car in practice. I can understand having an issue when it comes down to the race, nerves, lack of experience, ability to react to other drivers, but come on, he should be close in practice.
If he can't even do this he should not be in the seat during a race, ever.

that race was terrible.  They should just do time trials at Valencia.

The race was terrible but I was happy for Rubens. Also as Kimi fan I was happy with his podium.

There's a decent race circuit a few miles up the road from Valencia where many of the F1 teams used to test before the in-season test ban nonsense. Temporary street circuits are shite in general. There are many reasons not to use them and only one significant reason to use them - local political gain. This is about selling Valencia's (admittedly impressive) recent dockland development.

If they are going to race where there is nowhere to pass, they should at least do it one a permanent race circuit with interesting corners and elevation changes that highlight driver skill. There's thousands of race circuits in Europe alone that F1 doesn't use because they are deemed to be too narrow or to have main straights that are too short to provide a racing spectacle for something as quick as an F1 car. Building something worse downtown in a major city might be good for that city's mayor, but its no use to the sport or the spectators.

I personally think that they should ditch Valencia and look a bit further north to Alcaniz (http://www.motorlandaragon.com/) where a brand new 3.3 mile circuit is being built to modern standards (designed by Hermann Tilke, who designed all the new circuits that have been added to the F1 calendar in recent years) in a giant motorsports complex. As far as I know, there has been no interest from F1, although the circuit owners are jockeying for the limited pre-season testing with around a half dozen other Spanish circuits.

Isn't Tilke the guy who designed all these other new crappy F1 circuits where there is no passing?

I really don't think you can blame any designer anymore for the lack of overtaking in modern F1.

I think no matter what the layout I think the cars are just not made to pass.  If the cars had a less downforce and were a bit more susceptible to driver error I think we would see more passing but that is just not safe and close to 200mph.

I think Tilke designed the hungaroring which inst all that bad.

All this being said there are some definite do not's when designing a track. We do not need more Monaco's (as much as really really want to go to that race)

If overtaking wasn't possible in the pits cars would have to overtake on the track. Allowing refuelling and tyre change stops hurt the sport more than pretty much anything since the dual formula days of turbos. Harder compound tyres to last a full race would also slow the cars down. I remember watching the epic duels between Senna, Prost, Piquet and Mansell. I wish F1 was that exciting again.

While this is absolutely true the current aero packages that they run really do a lot to prevent overtaking. when you see a car make up half to a full second a lap and then get stuck behind in dirty air and not being able to pass because of it or that they have such ridiculous grip that there seems to be a much less likely chance of screwing up braking or cornering, something needs to be done.

I do think a harder compound tyre would make the cars more of a handful to control and lead to more passing and really separate the men from the boys.
That being said though there needs to be a whole whack of changes to bring back passing, including the things you mentioned. As for epic duels please to be seeing the 2nd link I added in my first post in this thread :)

Can someone give me the cliff notes version of "dirty air?".

Basically the airstream aft of the car is highly disturbed and creates whorls and eddies which completely fuck up the aerodynamics of any car close behind. Unpredictable aerodynamics = unpredictable handling and so the second driver has to back off unless he wants to get a face full of the tyre barrier.

Basically what Iain said. The air is disrupted which results in the trailing car's front wing loosing down force upsetting the cars balancing and makes it understeer like a mofo.

There was ton's of work that the FIA has been at for years trying to reduce the effects of dirty air. Some of them resulting in a lot of the aero changes this year.

I really wish they went with a CDG wing(pdf) (http://www.fia.com/resources/documents/1518391260__24_10_2005_CDG_wing_2008.pdf) instead of the current layout, it was quite radical

Resulting in the reduction of wake

My theory as to why both NASCAR and F1 are sucking lately is someone simple.  It comes down to these points:

1) The people running the show care about Profits more than racing and it shows
2) Both sports have been sanitized to the point where drivers are just corporate drones that answer every question with a list of their sponsors.
3) The rules put in place in the name of safety have made the product boring (debris cautions?)
4) The TV coverage is painful.  (especially true of ESPN and FOX.)

Ecclestone really has moved F1 towards big business, but its been like this for decades. There's been a lot of corporate movement in teams in and out of F1 but the sport really is build around Ferrari monarch. Ferrari keeps F1 series going and the FIA has showcased them building a further mystique around the company.

This has had some major impacts(excuse the pun) on F1 circuits that are now designed to be "safer".


I cannot speak much for Nascar besides dur dur durr 3 wide.. dur dur dur running loose dur dur dur, and the digger cam  :grin:

What I really think has hurt F1 is the FIA's non stop meddling in rules and stewards. We have had such a mess in the past few years on and off track (mass damper, spygate, diffuser, overturned rulings). The constant rule changes has been crazy and anyone who casually follows the sport has got to be lost.

Don't get me started on the engine rules (ie: frozen till 2013 BS), I miss the crazy over the top v10's that seemed to keep evolving into insane monsters.

OH, that makes way more sense!


See, I read dirty air and instantly got the image of someone having a Mario kart like air compressor on the back of their car shooting gas clouds at people.

So approaching the close of the "development" season. Ferrari is done for this year moving to the 2010 car, Renault has changed focus to 2010, BMW is doing a last hurra to increase team price, Williams has focused on 2010 and getting KERS ready. McLaren is the dark horse with a brand new short wheel base ready for Spa and Monza for both drivers but I think the smart money is now on their 2010 season, but they will probably be up front for a few more races.

So really its down to Redbull and Brawn.

Pretty much spot on.

Never been much of a F1 or NASCAR fan, but will watch them a bit if nothing else is on.  F1 has become less interesting the more it takes driver skill out of the equation (active aero, traction control, etc).  Conversely, NASCAR has become less interesting because it's all about the driver and less about equipment (restrictor plates, Car of Tomorrow, etc) and more about driver skill which has resulted in the same handful of drivers dominating the series (Jimmy Johnson, others).  NASCAR is only mildly interesting at the beginning, the middle, and the last 20 laps, especially the big tracks like Talledega and Daytona.  The short tracks have some good racing, as do the intermediate like Las Vegas and Atlanta.  Racing should be about 'run what you brung, and hope you brung enough'.  NASCAR used to have some real personalities (Earnhardt, Wallace, the Allisons, etc), now it's completely corporate and 'safe', and as you mentioned 'sanitized'.  The only guys with some personality to them are Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart.

Sadly, I can't get much F1 coverage due to my broadcasting region unless it's late at night or the other sports have winded down.

 :heart: Spa :heart:

Forcast is overcast high of 22c no rain

Brawn's in trouble this race.

2010 draft calendar

March 14 – Bahrain (Sakhir)
March 28 – Australia (Melbourne)
April 4 – Malaysia (Sepang)
April 25 – Turkey (Istanbul)
May 9 – Spain (Barcelona)
May 23 – Monaco (Monte Carlo)
 :heart: :heart: :heart: June 6 – Canada (Montreal)  :heart: :heart: :heart:
June 27 – Europe (Valencia)
July 11 – Great Britain (Donington)
July 25 – Germany (Hockenheim)
August 1 – Hungary (Budapest)
August 22 – Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
September 5 – Italy (Monza)
September 19 – China (Shanghai)
September 26 – Singapore (Singapore)
October 10 – Japan (Suzuka)
October 24 – Brazil (Interlagos)
November 7 – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

Bahrain is changing to a 5pm start time, 5:45pm is sunset so its a dusk/night race   :awesome_for_real:

I can't imagine what F1 teams spend on transportation costs, flying all that equipment all over the world...

I was reading about this before that generally seacans are shipped to the further away sites months in advance. The major parts such as cars + engines + spares are air shipped but most of the rest are preshipped. I think Williams had a special on it covering their logistics might be on youtube or such.

http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/understanding_the_sport/5297.html

Great race today with some interesting revelations.


Bad news? Accusations that during the 2008 Singapore GP that Nelson Piquet jr was "ordered" to crash handling Alonso the victory. FIA has launched an investigation (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/78195) and Nelson has a nice twitter post (http://twitter.com/NelsonPiquet) for Grosjean.

I wonder how many times Alonso can be linked to cheating scandals before his reputation is total rubbish?  And who would outright sack someone who had that sort of info on them?   Nelson Piquet is a bit of a foot stomper when it comes to his son, so I wonder if Jr. was told not to tell him.  I can't imagine he'd allow Jr. to do anything so risky.

I guess you could say the same thing about Hamilton too  :why_so_serious:

Flavio has been skirting the rules and outright caught a few times, but I think he's a marked man for the no-confidence and the FOTA breakaway involvement. I don't know the points standing but I wonder the financial gain of getting a place or two ahead in the WCC points vs Piquet + car damage. I wonder his future job prospects in F1 now if his dad doesn't buy him a team ;)

Oh well Massa medical news should be today which will provide interesting for Monza as Alonso will probably be announced as 2010 driver, Massa, and Kimi?!

Yes, I agree that if this is proven to be true, Flavio is a goner.  He doesn't have the luxury of "stepping down" like Ron Dennis does.   

Ughhh even worse Renault might leave. Interesting when they are an engine supplier too, but it's a great "exit" reason from F1.

Poor Force India!

Awesome.  Fisichella always said he'd do anything to drive a Ferrari, and he did!

He did so well with Renault but was in Alonso's shadow, but last week was such a push for Ferrari to get him signed on. They
will see way more points (ala $$$) and less of an embarsement with poor Brodeur.

If I was him I'd quit at the end of the year. What a way to end your career  :drill:

Side note, got road trip with friends lined up for Montreal 2010 GP. If anyone else is going send a PM!

Fisi will win in a Ferrari. Just watch.

Renault will be done in F1


They are so cooked, and I wonder if Piquet will ever get a drive in F1 if his dad doesn't buy a team.

Bye Bye, Flavio.  God, I hope he goes broke and has to sell QPR to some other asshole.  Oh wait.  It's owned by three assholes, isn't it?   :ye_gods:  One down, two to go.

Holy crap this is getting comical

Hopefully, that's the end of the Briatore Symonds crime ring!  I haven't heard anything about Piquet Jr and Alonso, yet.  We'll probably see Alonso in a Ferrari at some point where he can cheat with near impunity.  I hope Briatore is NEVER allowed in racing again!  He's mean to cute young racing drivers.

Blurb (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8266090.stm)

Edit:  Favourite Briatore pic!

(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46364000/jpg/_46364114_flavio512.jpg)

Yep here's the fallout

• 2 year suspended racing ban for Renault
• Briatore lifetime ban from F1
• Symonds 5 year ban from F1
• Piquet Jr had immunity, and his F1 career is in shambles until his dad buys a team  :why_so_serious:
• Alonso was absolved of anything (lulz)

This whole weekend is going to be a mess, expect Alonso announcement then the driver shuffle begins. I highly recommend anyone really interested to listen to the BBC free practices with Ant and Croft. The coverage has great inside tidbits about the circuits, news, etc.

Looking quite probable that Brawn will win the F1 constructors title tomorrow. Webber's chances of points are pretty slim, Vettel could win but as long as Barrichello and Button can grab four points between them, it'll be over. Depending on how the Brawns fare, Vettel could be out of the running by the end of the weekend, even with a win. That's less likely.

That's if the stewards don't throw out the Brawns' Q2 qualifying times overnight of course...

Here.   :ye_gods:  (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79191)

That'll do it. Funny how steward decisions always seem to give Bernie the 'exciting' title race that he wants. What's hilarious about this is that Alonso, realising that he didn't have the car for a Q3 run, slowed and then protested the other drivers, starting this whole inquiry in the first place. The stewards found that Alonso only slowed after passing the accident, so they penalised him too.

Grid now looks like this:

1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
4 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber
5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari
6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber
8 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari
9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes
10 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn-Mercedes
11 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes
12 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn-Mercedes
13 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Ferrari
14 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota
15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Renault
17 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault
18 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
19 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes
20 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota

I doubt Alonso was the catalyst as no one slowed down at all during the yellows. But whats interesting is by the rules your not allowed to set a quick time in the zone that's under yellow. Button/Barrichello technically didn't set a previous sector time for q2, Alonso pitted at end of sector 3. Brawn has flat out admitted they didn't even slow down for the yellow



Blahahaha regards to Alonso http://fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Pages/on_event.aspx your right the telemetry screwed him(document 28)  :grin:

First off, I'll happily admit I haven't watched F1 much these past years (or 8, really), because the races seemed to just boil down more and more to railroad racing, where there might be a few passes if we were lucky. I happily went over to watching indycar/C.A.R.T/champcars or what the hell ever it is they're called these days (of which I'm calling champcars from now on), and while they're turboed compared to the f1 cars, they had what I thought of as a much more vibrant on-track presense.

For one, they actually had the safety car out once in a while to bunch the cars back up, which creates closer and more exciting racing. They also seemed to have less aero downforce, and rely more on mechanical grip than F1 did. Hell, the first thought I had when they started with the whole grooved "slicks" in F1 was "what the hell are they thinking making the cars even /more/ reliant on aero downforce?". Apparently they're trying to undo this and finally get back into the F1 of olde, however my parents have been watching F1, and they say that while the latest changes have made things better, there's still a long way to go.

Actually, it isn't just the reliance on aero downforce that I object to, there are a ton of changes I've heard about (and I've watched a few races while at my parents', just as research), and it seems like they're kind of trying to emulate champcars with the pitstops etc, but it just seems half-hearted. I think the main reason is the fact that F1's safetycar isn't out so much as in champcars, which means that while pitstops do add to the tactics used, it doesn't have the same level of unpredictability that champcar does. Seeing 30+ seconds between 1st and 2nd didn't seem to be that uncommon in F1, whereas in champcars I rarely saw more than 10 seconds before something came up which brought the safetycar out and bunched the entire field back up.

And let's not forget the deal where they have the "push to pass" button, which gives them 60-120 seconds of extra power (0.1 bar I think, or 50bhp I think), which they can engage at any time during the race, and which lasts as long as they keep the foot planted. The guy in front can't see they're using the P2P, but guys behind can due to the blinking light at the rear, so it just adds an extra layer of strategy/tactics. When to use it, when not to use it.

What I think they should do is go even further in reducing aero downforce and increasing mechanical grip, removing or reducing traction control and stability systems etc, make it so the *races* themselves are more unpredictable. Make driver skill more prevalent, make it so the fields are bunched up once in a while, make the tactics available deeper, and for fucks sake make the tracks more varied. All the new tracks I've seen in F1 lately have been overgrown gokart tracks with hardly any undulation. More variation, get some hills into the mix, and for gods sake make it easier to pass.

F1 of 3 years ago felt way too clinical, and while the last race I watched (a few months ago) felt a little bit better, the new track didn't really lead itself to passing, and the new qualifying didn't really feel like a step forward either. It still felt like the one with the 1st spot had a higher than 75% chance of winning (dependent on how the start went, in addition to what the teams set as long-term strategies for the race before it even started), so it really ended up with watching the start, maybe a few laps as they lose nosecones, zoning out while the race went on and zone back in when it was 1-2 laps to go or whenever someone had a puncture or whatever minor issue they had during the race.

Not once did I ever feel the excitement I got from watching the last few laps stewie linked to (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3tXJm9tYGM if you don't want to go back to page 1 and search for it), and that snippet was from 30 years ago. Not even close. You hardly ever see the cars even squirm under braking or during acceleration, and if they've got even more than a tiny bit of a powerslide, the commentators are throwing fits.

I am not impressed with what the F1 scene is right now. Yes, it's very technically impressive and awesome and all that, but the few races I've watched over the last years since damon hill quit racing (and even then you could see they were really struggling with passing eachother due to too much reliance on aero downforce) has NOT persuaded me to go back to watching them regularly on TV. In person might be something else entirely, since that'd turn the experience up to 11, but as a TV sport, F1 is (and has been) failing for me for years, and they have only recently been making babysteps in what I think is the right direction.

In short, I really don't care for whatever drama they might be drumming up within the teams with cheating or whatnot, if I was looking for that I'd be watching some soap opera or reality show. I'm there to see close, exciting and cut-throat racing. I want there to be crashes, I want there to be nudging between drivers, I want there to be more visible mistakes than just "oh he missed the apex by 2 metres, now he'll be 0.075 seconds slower on that lap", and I want the strategies to be more seat of the pants, not pre-decided before the start as they seem to be today. I want excitement and unpredictability, god damn it.

Maybe in 5 more years.

~20 laps in and this is the best race of the year so far!  :awesome_for_real:

So:

Mercedes: Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher
McLaren: Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button
Red Bull: Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber
Ferrari: Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa
Williams: Rubens Barrichello, Nico Hulkenberg
Renault: Robert Kubica
Force India: Adrian Sutil, Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toro Rosso: Sebastien Buemi, Jaime Alguersuari
Campos Meta: Bruno Senna
Virgin: Timo Glock, Lucas di Grassi
US F1:
Lotus: Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen
Sauber: Kamui Kobayashi, Pedro de la Rosa

One seat remaining in Renault and three in the new teams.

Unsigned 2009 drivers: Nick Heidfeld, Giancarlo Fisichella, Kazuki Nakajima, Nelson Piquet, Romain Grosjean, Kimi Räikkönen, Sébastien Bourdais

Other F1 test / reserve drivers: Luca Badoer (Ferrari), Marc Gene (Ferrari), Christian Klien (BMW), David Coulthard (Red Bull), Anthony Davidson (Brawn)

Interested in returning: Jacques Villeneuve, Christian Klien, Alex Wurz, Takuma Sato, Franck Montagny

Young drivers: Stefan Wilson (Indy Lights), Jules Bianchi (EU F3), José María López (TC2000), Paul di Resta (DTM), JR Hildebrand (Indy Lights), Alexander Rossi (GP2), Esteban Gutierrez (EU F3), Mike Conway (Indy), Marcus Ericsson (JP F3), Bertrand Baguette (Renault), Ho-Pin Tung (GP2), Andy Soucek (F2), Gary Paffett (DTM), Daniel Ricciardo (UK F3), Brendon Hartley (EU F3), Mirko Bortolotti (F2), Daniel Zampieri (IT F3), Marco Zipoli (IT F3), Pablo Sanchez (IT F3), Oliver Turvey (Renault), Mohamed Fairuz Fauzy (GP2)

The Toro Rosso seat is allegedly already taken by Jaime Alguersuari, but since he's not on the official entry yet, there is presumably some outstanding condition. Probably his personal sponsorship. After Daniel Ricciardo's sensational run in testing yesterday, Toro Rosso have another great option if the contract can't be worked out. Ricciardo is likely to be offered a Toro Rosso job for next year in any case, but other teams may be interested in giving him a race seat now.

Kimi Räikkönen has been announced for Citroen's rally team next year, so he's presumably not had enough interest from what he considers the best teams. Giancarlo Fisichella has taken the Ferrari reserve/test driver role, so unless anybody wants to buy him a race drive by paying Ferrari, he's out of the running. Schumacher is unlikely to be returning at this point, although if he does you would expect him to be in a Brawn Mercedes, who haven't denied that they're seeking his services.

Campos are interested in getting Pedro de la Rosa and are working the money on that.

José María López has 80% of the sponsorship needed to satisfy the conditions on an offer of a drive in US F1.

Mohamed Fairuz Fauzy is linked with Lotus, probably in a reserve/test role. Lotus have apparently signed one driver, but we don't yet know who. Villeneuve and Trulli have been mentioned as possibles.

Renault are looking to sell their team so that they can get out of F1 racing and not break the Concorde Agreement extension that they signed in order to lessen the damage caused by the Piquet crash order scandal. They have two groups courting them - a European technology investment firm and Dave Richards' Prodrive outfit. Richards appeals to the race team because he knows racing, the investment group is favoured by the bean counters. This week, Renault tested Ho-Pin Tung, who formerly drove for Gravity Sport who are financed by Mangrove Capital Partners who are allegedly connected to Richards' Prodrive team. More interestingly, Jacques Villeneuve also drove for Gravity Sport at Le Mans. As somebody who has raced in more than two F1 grands prix, Villeneuve couldn't take part in this week's session.

It's hard to imagine that Villeneuve isn't coming back next year. It's looking like he could drive in a Prodrive car under the Renault flag.

There's just a staggering amount of talent out there right now, all wanting to be a part of F1. The question is who can raise the sponsorship money quickly enough to take advantage of the many seats available. Silly season indeed.

Edit: Lucas di Grassi announced with Virgin, Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen announced with Lotus, Robert Kubica drive possibly in doubt with new Renault owner.
Edit: Kamui Kobayashi announced with Sauber. Schumacher now likely at Mercedes.
Edit: Michael Schumacher announced with Mercedes.
Edit: Kubica's manager confirms his drive with Renault.
Edit: Jaime Alguersuari confirmed with Toro Rosso. Pedro de la Rosa announced with Sauber.

Nice recap Righ!

Kamui Kobayashi is now confirmed for Sauber (so glad he got the team back from BMW). He was awesome and drove amazingly, really cannot wait to see what happens this year. Now if only Sauber would hire Sato.

Very serious discussions saying Schumacher is coming back for Mercedes!


Still waiting on Montreal 2010 tickets to go on sale, it will be my first GP  :awesome_for_real: So far it looks like an amazing upcoming year with a lot of competitive teams(McLaren, Ferrari, RBR, Mercedes) and new blood.

I'm so hoping that someone gets a Youtube clip of Kobyashi passing Schumi on track.

Schumacher will be in a Mercedes run by Ross Brawn, the man who won his 7 world championships with him, and managed by Norbert Haug, the man who managed his entry into world class motor sports. There are people out there that can beat him and who will have the equipment and initially the competitive advantage to do so. Kobayashi in a Sauber under new power is unlikely to be one of them. Maybe in 2011.  :|

Shit just got real!

French court overturns FIA ban of Briatore/Symonds and ordered FIA to take out ads in the french papers to notify the public/F1 teams  :uhrr:

Not really. All the French courts did was recognise that the FIA is in no position to ban somebody who is not a direct signatory or participant in an FIA sanctioned event. In essence, they are telling the FIA that they are in the position to ban a team but not one of its employees. They are essentially saying that the matter should have come before a French judge, not an FIA-run court, or that the FIA should have put the pressure on the team such that the team sacked the offenders. It is a legal power-play by the French judicial system, not a ruling on whether Briatore cheated or not or whether such cheating should ultimately remove somebody from the sport. The damages awarded probably don't even pay for the private jet trip to court let alone the lawyering, so it is fairly clear that the judges considered this a rap on the FIA's knuckles not vindication of Briatore's position.

The FIA will appeal this, they'll modify their legal system based on the outcome and in the meantime if Briatore or Symonds find work with any F1 team, that team will be 'suspended from competition indefinitely due to irregularities'.

Seven weeks until the first race of 2010. Quite amazing that there are still four seats undecided - Renault (who lost out in their attempts to sign both Timo Glock and Heikki Kovalainen), Campos Meta and both seats in US F1. It's hard to imagine Nick Heidfeld failing to get a drive and Villeneuve's name won't go away since he's not counted out a return yet. I can't imagine US F1 picking up Villeneuve unless he's going to take a stake in the team himself. The money just wouldn't be attractive otherwise. I have to suspect that he's secretly talking to Renault. The money may not be a lot better at Renault, but the chances of fighting for points are probably better. Russian Vitaly Petrov (GP2) is the name most associated with the Campos Meta drive.

My guess? Petrov to Campos Meta, Heidfeld to Renault, Alex Wurz to US F1, and depending on who earns the most personal sponsorship either Jose Maria Lopez or J. R. Hildebrand in the other US F1 seat. If US F1 even makes it to the grid...

Teams agreed to the double diffuser ban in 2011!

US F1 seems really sketchy (http://www.usgpe.com/news/bob-varsha-visits-us-f1-team-part-3.html) in the press, I wonder if they will even make it to the grid as they are looking for a delay of three GP's before showing up. Alas James Allen says they have tons of funding vs Campos.

Big week as the announcements start and testing is next week  :drill:

Today's press shot of the Mercedes GP colors (note: its last years BGP 001 car)
(http://binfuser.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/732423246-652112512010l.jpg)

Still shocking Nick Heidfeld still hasn't gotten a ride. I'm guessing now with most of the seats gone a backup/test driver for Mercedes?

Some great pics from Valencia testing today at: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns22055.html

Really like the way the Mercedes GP car looks.

Sadly it's looking like USF1 isn't going to make the grid.

It looks like neither US F1 nor Campos Meta are going to make the grid and that the FIA knows it. They just instituted a ruling that says teams are allowed to miss up to three F1 races and still remain in the series. I now fully expect both teams to miss the first three races, and since all three are fly-aways, it will be a massive cost saving. Heck, I could even imaging a couple of teams that are ready to take advantage of it.

There needs to be a sort of racing with only two rules regarding the nature of the cars themselves.

1) The car must contain a human driver.
2) The car may not fly.

I suspect the result would need to be viewed by remote-operated camera only, as no one would dare put spectators anywhere near it.

That was called "Group B" in the 80s. That went well.

Someone petition Red Bull... or maybe Vince McMahon  :why_so_serious:

And I am appalled by the lack of NASCAR in this thread.

Turning left every 200 yards is not racing.

It's racing, it's just that the spectacle is less about applying disciplined race driving to a car developed under rules designed to give a lot of latitude than it is about applying aggressive driving to a car developed under very strict controls. Nascar fans like spirited competition where drivers in relatively equal machinery will engage in the sort of behaviour likely to cause crashes. A driver who gives no quarter will garner more respect than one who is simply the fastest. I'm okay with that, but I prefer to see it on a technical circuit rather than an oval, so I'd rather watch DTM or BTCC than Nascar. It's always fun when Nascar visits Watkins Glen or Infineon Raceways though.

 :roll:

I think you missed a bit.

I think open mockery of drivers who skip the glen  and Infineon should be mandatory.

I grew up a fan of Indy car and hating Nascar. Living in Alabama made life hard.

The Australian V8 Supercars series is the closest thing to NASCAR on a track with corners, that's pretty fun to watch.

Well some good came out of all the money invested into KERS. Porsche has licensed Williams electric flywheel KERS system for the racing GT3. It will be race tested on the 14-15 May at the 24 Hours Nürburgring. Video of the new GT3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gbwOGOqM_A) which Porsche has rebranded as Intelligent Performance (http://www.porsche.com/intelligent-performance).  I'm wondering how well this will work because it effectively transforms the GT3 into a 6-8 second 4wd system without the need for a prop-shaft or front end LSD. It will be a freaking monster on corner exits.

I'm just happy Williams got something back for the money invested. By-far their solution was better then any of the battery KERS systems of last year. Seems to be spinning at a lower RPM compared to the high end reports of the F1 system spinning ~100k RPM.

(http://binfuser.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/120708_1235307_1_mid_Pxgen_r_467xA.jpg)
1 and 5 – Controller, 2- Front axle with electric motors, 3 – heavy duty power cable, 4 – flywheel. source (http://forums.finalgear.com/automotive-news/porsche-911-gt3-r-hybrid-42333/#post1273469)

It isn't in a microlight F1 car, so the gyro flywheel probably gets to weigh a hundred times as much. I'm sure that there was a lot of deal making to find a buyer of the Williams Hybrid Power (http://www.williamshybridpower.com/) technology, because it is only with this announcement that Williams formally agreed not to run KERS in F1 in 2010. Basically, all the F1 rule changes had to be agreed by all the teams, and Williams, having spent longer than anybody developing KERS had spent more money on it and had never used it in racing. The increase in minimum weight of an F1 car by 15kg for 2010 was designed to allow KERS with less weight penalty. The other manufacturers decided not to run their less efficient KERS systems before Williams had signed up for this year, so until they got the okay from Williams, forbidding KERS was just a proposed rule change. Until around half way through last month, Williams were still saying that they were going to run KERS in 2010 as was their right. That Williams had made a KERS system much better (and lighter) than the three battery systems used last year probably caused every other team to run to help Williams find a buyer for their technology.

In theory, you could use a flywheel regenerative system with an axis motor to help a car corner. That would be awesome stuff.

when you get a moment read this

http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-500-craigslist-car-beat-400k-rally-racers

Nice. Third in class without a team is mighty impressive.

F1 season to date looks a bit grim. Bahrain was a procession - I don't remember seeing any real overtaking. A couple of positions changed at the start, that was about it barring retirements. Thankfully there was some tricky rain at the start of the Australian race - a few teams tried different tactics but it was mostly the impatience of drivers that had them pushing hard to overtake even when it was unwise. However, if it had been a dry race, I think it would have ended up like Bahrain too. With no refuelling strategies to mix things up, I fear we're in for a boring season.

That said, I don't think Hamilton was right about being able to get a second place finish if he had stayed on the same tyres. By the time he overcame his poor starting position and fought his way up to third place, his tyres were looking even worse than Kubica's were and Kubica was unable to run close to the pace that Button was setting. His inability to get back in touch with Kubica after his tyre change had more to do with Alonso's constant tank-slappers coming out of every corner in the later stages of the race. Although it wasn't fast, weaving back and forth across the track at every corner is a good way to ensure that nobody passes. He made it look like a control problem, but it was Alonso, so it was probably cheating.  :grin:

More significantly, Button was supremely fast on tyres that he had nursed since lap 6. That's testament to Button's rare driving style - he is incredibly smooth on corners - not as fast as most of his peers on entry speeds, but he's in the apex for less time and is faster exiting. This was noted years ago when he first came to F1 - his style is natural and balanced - he favours using engine braking to slow and control the car and this led to him creating a head-scratcher for his team as he wore the tyres and brakes less and the top-end of the engine more. Most of his peers stamp on the brakes, let the car get squirrelly and then use their phenomenal reaction-times to control the slide. It's more interesting to watch Schumacher, Vettel or Hamilton do this, but they're chewing up their tyres as they do, and with no refuelling required, they're making sure that they need more pit stops than Button does. Everything else being equal, this would be Button's championship to lose.

The problem for Button comes with qualifying. If McLaren cannot consistently give him a car that can out-qualify his peers, then Button is forced to follow, and take the inevitable consequence of greater tyre wear from following in the dirty air of the leading cars. That, I fear, is the formula that we'll see for much of the rest of the season.

(Amusingly, Schumacher says he could have come third if it hadn't been for Alonso precipitating the incident in the first corner... perhaps so Michael, shame then that this year he's the guy in a Ferrari and likely to win all the steward inquiries... oh how ironic)

Sorry to sirbruce but there's a lot to cover.

What I don't get about the F1 hoopla over the Bahrain race everyone glossed over is the Bahrain track is horrible with very little overtaking possibilities. I was kinda surprised that the Mclaren's with their topline speed did so poorly. V8 supercars did their first race on the Bahrain track the weekend before the F1 race and it was freaking horrible also.

Ha, considering he did more of a run then Hamilton from midfield up, fought with Massa for a long while, and stayed on the same set of tires I'd assume it was control problems. Soon as Hamilton's tires were off he was all over the place and sloppy also which questions why they pulled him for a tire change and loss of position he could of easily defended his position for the rest of the race.  :why_so_serious:

Where it was Massa, Hamilton(or was it Webber) and Alonso they we're doing 1.5s/lap faster then Kubica/Button and both Ferrari's were on lap ~8ish tires. I'm really surprised that Alonso wasn't let by Massa but it really shows the team letting the drivers fight it out as Massa held off Alonso for a podium finish getting him to wreck tires in the process of following in dirty air. We shall see as the season continues on but Massa was totally out driven by his team mate.

I have no idea what Schumacher was speaking to in this regard. What speaks volumes was Ferrari saying it was a "racing incident" after Alonso's car was tapped by Button (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOYXKBDq_kg), instead of whining like Schumacher. Watching Schumacher have trouble with midfield teams such as Sauber really tells me he's going to have tons of issues this year and should of stayed retired.

Summary this season is going to suck, the red bulls are crazy fast which is fueling a lot of rumors about skullduggery in ride hight adjustment. But this as per last season is whoever is out in the clean air is going to win the race as its the point where the car is most optimal on performance and easiest on tires which is the most important factor now. The FIA really has to force the teams to strip aero in 2011 (the double diffuser isn't enough).

This year it's shocking how bad the dirty air is effecting the cars.

If you watch some of the other series that race at Bahrain I think you will find the racing isn't boring at all. 

Who's the boom king? Who?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQL1ACRscOE

I'm the boom king. What?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4CCWoF-DCU

Mike Conway is lucky to be alive. He's got multiple compound fractures in his leg along with some tendon damage. How many thousandths of a second did he and his safety cage miss being collected by Hunter-Reay? Was it even one thousandth?

He's even more lucky that the wall didn't collect his head as no roll cage will save you from an airborne angle into the fence.  Scary, scary crash.

So the Turkish GP.
Who was at fault, Vettel or Webber?

Personally I think Webber gave him enough room and Seb, looking for a better line into the coming corner drove into him.
Many people argue that Seb was past Mark and Mark should have at that point moved over and given way because he was clearly beat.
On various F1 forums it seems to be 80/20 against Seb. just curious what you guys thought?

Vettel was absolutely at fault. The pass is complete when the passing car makes it through the next corner in front. You can't simply take a line that lets you outbrake your opponent then expect your opponent to give you the part of the track you need to make it through the next corner. Boy would it be easy to pass if you just had to put a nose in front to claim rights to your choice of the line. I suspect Vettel wouldn't be claiming it as a viable criterion if Webber had just driven into him 'because he was in front and wanted that bit of road as was rightfully his'. Also, he's acting like a fucking juvenile twat and a spoiled prima donna with regards to this incident and his status within the team. Grow up Seb. :grin:

Only in Utah would the highway patrol target the one World Superbike event on the continent of North America with an administrative checkpoint for "motorcycle safety."  :ye_gods: :ye_gods:

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_15205702?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

So is anyone else looking forward to Le Mans this year?  It looks like Speed will be interrupting their 'all NASCAR all the time' schedule to provide 16 or so hours of coverage, with the night portion of the race being streamed on speedtv.com.

Speed generally shows a lot of the race, which is nice.  I don't stay glued but I definitely check in during the weekend.  There's tons going on over the weekend this year, though.  Football, Le Mans, F1... what else?  I'm forgetting something!

Geez.  Nelson Piquet, Jr now in Nascar Truck Series.  And, yet, Fernando Alonso gets a drive with Ferrari.  I'm a little surprised that Daddy couldn't buy him a better drive.

RE:  Le Mans

Peugeot has gotta be disappointed - 3 works cars and 1 privateer with full factory support in LMP1 and not a single one finished the race, opening the doors for Audi to finish 1-2-3 - a whole lot of French money ended up as little more than stains on the track.  

If you weren't watching in the morning, you also missed watching the last factory Peugeot basically bully the last Corvette Racing car into the wall at about 100 mph (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUvcNnvwIL4) while frantically trying to catch the lead Audi.  The Corvette garage managed to completely replace the entire rear end of the car in what seemed like 30 minutes - easily the most memorable moment of the race.  Tragically, their effort was all for naught when the same car had it's engine die due to piston failure (similar to the failure that had already claimed the other GT2 'Vette) shortly after.

I don't see the fault of the Peugeot there, the Corvette as the slower car should have let him pass. The Corvette pilot was too late on the brakes and paid for it.

The difference is that Fred is a great driver.
I know many people here don't like him but the guy is good. One of, if not the best, drivers today.

Oh and an absolutely great race today. Montreal should have never been pulled off the calendar. 

I'm not saying anything about the calibre of his driving.  It's the whole irony thing, I guess.  He's been caught misbehaving in two separate incidents.  I think he's a great driver, too, though certainly not the best in my opinion.  I just he might not be a good person.  He cheats.  Maybe that's why Ferrari are so happy to have him.  Nelson Piquet Jr's father was a great driver.  Maybe he'll buy Jr a team if no one will hire him for a better sort of racing.