you can also see glock's car being awfully twitchy on the exit of the turn after hamilton passed him.
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you can also see glock's car being awfully twitchy on the exit of the turn after hamilton passed him.
Yep - Both Toyotas stayed on dry tires and had comparable lap times over the last two laps. It's a huge stretch that McClaren would have been able to beg a favor from probably the best funded team in the paddock and have them slow both drivers in what the 2.30 minutes that the situation unfolded?Don't the FIA/race stewards monitor the team's radio transmisions to enforce the team orders rule? An F1 car with dry tires on a track as wet as turn 10 and 11 is almost undriveable. Glock's to be congratulated for almost getting it home ahead of Vettel and Hamilton.Quote:
Originally Posted by hutash
Really hope the hybrid rules don't fuck up things next year. See the potential for someone to build a just unbeatable car - remember the active Williams?
Barrichello must be just devasted that he's having to compete with Piquet for a Honda drive. Senna Jr. I can see the huge commercial benefits of having on the team but Piquet? Really? Be sad to see Ruben's career just peeter out, really nice guy.
i watched bruno senna do a porsche test for 5th Gear in this last season that just ended. immediately likeable guy, he was so excited just to be able to drive a fun car that he was all lit up. i hope to see much more of him.
i don't think barichello's career can "peeter out". after all he's now the driver with the most starts in F1 ever. there isn't much more time for him to go on and start a new one, and there's plenty of talent waiting to fill his shoes.
edit for video:
I saw that 5th gear.
Met Ayrton a couple of times and was a huge fan. It sends shivers down my spine how much alike they are.
Rubens is still worthy of a drive while others less deserving seem unfairly secure. Silverstone this year?
i was thinking last night: can you imagine if Jim Clark had a cousin that looked just like him and drove that sublime? if Bruno Senna has only half the talent his uncle did we'll make him a legend. we can just gobble that "made for tv" storyline up like there's no tomorrow because, so far, the "sons of former F1 champions" (the other made for tv storyline) has been a disappointment. :D
back to Rubens, having the right tires at the right time can do wonders, like it did at silverstone, but on the other hand it can make your life miserable, like it did at interlagos, where putting full wets meant that barichello arrived 15th: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71959
not taking anything away from him. he's a good driver, just, IMHO, he's a bit old.
Dear god, has anyone seen pics of the 2009 interm cars? BMW and Williams have been running around Barcelona with them. The front wing reminds me of the BMW/Williams walrus front circa 2004.
tonka toys. especially the puny rear wing :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by wren
http://www.itv-f1.com/photo.aspx?IM_ID=51337&PG_ID=22
:eek:
WTF???
Honestly? I've loved F1 for more years than I can count, but this is ridiculous. That has to be the ugliest thing I've even seen on wheels.
Max - please go get another reaming from a strap-on wearing hooker dressed as a nazi and leave the car design to the adults.
Thank you.
honda gone, eh? wonder how long it will take for toyota to pull the plug: they don't need advertisement in the middle east.
stupid ecclestone. he chased away those who cared about the sport and surrounded himself with corporations who come and go as they please.
bernie and max reap what they sow. more people should bail out of F1. Let's get this manufacturer series going, I don't want to see ugly cars, single engines, and fucking medals being awarded instead of points.
Damn.....
The FIA reacts
The FIA has reacted to the news of Honda's withdrawal with a letter to the teams saying that its tender processes are now complete and that Cosworth, together with Xtrac and Ricardo Transmissions will supply a complete Formula 1 power train beginning in 2010.
The cost of these deals will be a $2.4m downpayment plus $8m a year for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons. These prices are based on four teams signing up for the engines and include 30,000 km of testing. The annual cost will reduce if more teams take up the option. Neither the engines nor the transmissions will be badged. This gives teams the option of using the standard engines, building an identical engines themselves, having been supplied with the technical specifications or they can continue with their own engines but with agreement to accept parity with the standard engines. Teams will still have to use the standard transmissions.
The FIA says that this will enable the independent teams to survive and help teams if they need to replace departing manufacturers. There will then be a new state-of-the-art high tech engine, which could be in Formula 1 as early as 2013 if the car industry has sufficiently recovered by that point. Teams have until December 11 to decide what to do but the FIA says that if fewer than four teams go for standard engines the price will go up but will still be available.
This sounds like a sensible compromise for all concerned.
A Cosworth DFV for the 21st century might be the only way F1 can carry on?
Button goes to which team? He'll be cheap or even free and has a perceived value as driver beyond his achievements. Bet there are some drivers checking the small print of their contracts. Torro Rosso has a seat open. Wonder if Williams would have him back after the back and forth they had with him? Mclaren ditch Kovi? Renault drop Nelson? Webber's leg is bust that might give Red Bull an out on him? BMW might be worried they can keep Kubica long term and Heidfeld is not going to be a team leader. Obviously Force India would take him. Maybe even Toyota? If they're still even there?
Puts Senna Jr back on the market and Reubens is gone.
fuck me. i'd rather watch nascar than that shit.
ferrari & mclaren should start their own series. fuck the other manufacturers. they're just gonna be dead weight anyways.
...bump for 2009 season. The Australian opener was, um, interesting. Team Brawn (honda) and Button are kicking ass. Button scores another pole for tomorrow's race in Malaysia. McLaren and Hamilton...wtf?
Still maintaining the 100% record in getting it wrong... :the_fingeQuote:
Originally Posted by ass-to-mouth
I reckon 'they - and I can't qualify who 'they' are - simply don't like Hamilton. All would have been rosy in the world of F1 if Hamilton hadn't secured the title in the last race.Quote:
Originally Posted by milton
http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option...104&Itemid=219
Quote:
Former Canadian Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault believes Formula One teams should abandon the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone.
The 53-year-old told the French language La Presse newspaper that FOTA, the teams' new unified alliance, is their ticket to shedding the sport's current outdated structure.
Legault revealed that, shortly before the Formula One Teams Association was enacted, he made a presentation to the teams in Montreal.
"I said to them 'why don't you reorganise yourselves like a North American sports league? When the (Montreal) Canadiens play the Boston Bruins, they don't ask the International Hockey Federation to referee the match.
"In the world of North American pro sports, each league has a board of governors, a commissioner and vice presidents who manage the business. The owners of the sport manage themselves.
"The National Hockey League doesn't have to ask anyone if it wants to increase the size of the net by six inches!" he exclaimed.
Legault said the winds of change are already blowing, and a recent example of this is the recent flexing of muscles between the teams, the FIA and commercial rights holder Ecclestone over the scoring system.
He also says Formula 1 could live without Ecclestone, and the time is ripe for this to happen, given the absence of a Concorde agreement.
"The teams could leave tomorrow morning. They could call it the Grand Prix World Championship. If you have Ferrari, BMW, Williams, if you have Lewis Hamilton, that seems pretty much like the real thing."
Legault said the problem with Ecclestone and FOM is the 50-50 revenue split.
"To go back to the model of the NHL, if the league administrative costs are $50 million, and overall revenues are $1.8 billion, then that amounts to 3 percent.
"In Formula 1, the guy who manages the business costs you 50 percent of your revenues," said Legault.
now after a race, i always give the FIA a few days to fuck with the results before i get too excited about who finished where.
I love seeing the starting grid and the results page all topsy turvy compared to what we've become accustomed to for the last umpteen years. Maybe Mr. Legault has the right idea, I'd love to see Bernie get kicked to the curb.
it has been a fantastic start of the season so far, even though bernie fucked both melbourne (bad light, stupid tire choices forced upon bridgestone) and malaysia (late in the afternoon, rain). and now the mclaren thing. :nonono2:
just one more way max and bernie are trying to fuck f1...
The winner take all points scheme is the dumbest, bar none, dumbest idea for a race series ever. Ever.Quote:
Originally Posted by f2f
i don't think they were serious. it was just a ploy to slip in the 30 million/team budgets caps (including driver salaries) unnoticed... :nonono2:Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh Conway
you have to give it to max, though: he survived the nazi hooker scandal and is still FIA's boss. quite the politician.
Formula 1 2009: Race To The Court Room
The amount of controversy this season is ridiculous...I love F1 but these things need to be settled on the track, not in front of some motorsports commission.
If the Malaysian GP started an hour earlier the rain wouldn't have hit so early and we could have had a complete race. The rain still would have arrived, but it would have been a thrilling end to the race instead of having to wait around 45 minutes to decide whether or not we'd continue.
Down with Bernie, down with the FIA, follow Mr. Legault's suggestion, and then move back to the great F1 tracks and/or new tracks in countries that actually care. Drop Valencia, Turkey, Hungary, bring back Canada and France if they get a good track, possibly the US too. The Jury is still out on Singapore and Abu Dhabi. I'd also like to see the Euro GP rotate between a bunch of tracks like Imola, Zandvoort, and perhaps the tracks that had their annual GPs cancelled.
http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?option...126&Itemid=219
boy, i'm so glad Mohammed is OK! what would FIA do without its Vice President for Sport? mohammed comes from a long line of automotive enthusiasts hailing back at least a couple of years, when his dad first exchanged a camel for a ferrari.Quote:
An official of Formula One's governing body FIA on Thursday had a high speed crash at the wheel of a contemporary Grand Prix car.
On the occasion of Renault's F1 'roadshow' event in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates' automobile club President Mohammed bin Sulayem, also FIA Vice President for sport, shunted last year's R28 single seater. On the main straight of the Dubai Autodrome, the car swung to the right under power and struck the concrete barrier, necessitating a visit for the 14 time Middle East rally champion to the medical centre. Earlier, bin Sulayem had successfully driven the car on a closed road.
"Fortunately he was uninjured and the car will be taken back to be repaired," said a Renault spokesman. In Dubai for the roadshow event is Fernando Alonso's team-mate Nelson Piquet.
/yes, i am bitter. how can you tell?
Just in case you haven't seen this.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/...tid10497901001
Maybe somebody can embed it for me.
Why not make it a Nascar series and be done with it?Quote:
Originally Posted by f2f
they would if they could (stock engines just one example). ironically, the teams association (FOTA) was well on its way to 30 mil budget caps just on its own accord and everybody working together, but that was pre-diffusers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh Conway
Sounds like that court room was an 8 hour bitch fight yesterday.
Even so.... it will be interesting to watch the MM and Ferrari boys catch up the diffuser ground between Asia and Europe.
oh the sweet irony:
full article here: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74475Quote:
The row over the diffusers has also led to intense confrontation between the rival factions - with Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn being on the receiving end of attacks from Renault and Ferrari about his use of the diffuser concept.
However, he has stood firm in his belief that the design was legal – and confirmed recently that he offered rivals the chance to close off the regulations to prevent teams exploiting the diffuser designs, but they rejected the opportunity.
"In March 2008 that was offered," said Brawn, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the matter.
"If I'm frank I didn't say 'look we are going to do this diffuser if you don't accept this rule' because I'm not going to tell people what we're doing, but I explained that I felt that we should have a different set of rules to simplify what needs to be done.
"I offered them and they were rejected, so my conscience is very clear. And those rules that I put on the table would have stopped a lot of things. It would have stopped the diffuser, it would have stopped all those bargeboards around the front, and it would have cleaned the cars up.
"Because it was clear that when we started to work on the regulations that there were things that you could do, and we needed to perhaps clean them up, but nobody was interested. They are interested now."
Apparently Ron Dennis is to stand down from all McLaren F1 involvement? Press conference scheduled for soon.
Max extracting his pound of flesh for Ron's real or perceived involvement in NaziPervetgate? Either he quits or McLaren face ban?
Brawn/Toyota/Williams Difusers ruled legal. Interesting times
This is not great news, entertainment fans.
China was so sweet, the driver I've been rooting for finally clinched it!
Things getting very silly in F1 politics.
Has Max gone too far this time?
Will a compromise of higher budget caps and single formula keep Ferrari, Toyota, RB and Renault on board?
What do they have hanging over Mclaren/Mercedes to keep them so quiet?
What about BMW? they're keeping very low profile in all this.
IMHO what's really going on is: Bernie/CVC Capital Partners are desperate to keep their hands on as much of the rights cash as they can. The teams have been clamoring for more. Injecting this scandal and then engineering a compromise where the teams have to spend less = the pressure to give them a bigger share is reduced.
The season is pretty shitty though. Regs and rulings are a farce. Kers a complete waste of time and money - likely ditched or just use a common system next year? Cars appear just dogs to drive, speeds creeping up.
a suspended ban which they can lift if Mclaren "brings the sport into disrepute"...Quote:
Originally Posted by PNWbrit
this week's autosport has a very good article re: possibilities for a breakaway series (in short, they can just take over A1GP for $30 mil per manufacturing team)
as for BMW, Toyota slipped that in FOTA talks BMW had said they're on the same side.
About a month to Le Mans...
okbye
Want to imagine the politicking going on with the Automobile club de Monaco in advance of their Grand Prix and as a back ground to the FOTA/FIA meeting in London?Quote:
Originally Posted by f2f
Having Monaco and Ferrari breaking away or even just both threatening to break away might be enough to topple Mosely?
A split would probably Leave FIA trying to promote their sanctioned and run A1GP or perhaps GP2 to which Bernie owns the TV rights to as some kind of lame F1lite. Maybe with the engine-less teams from Brawn, Force India, Williams as their big draw - although likely they'll just jump ship.
Ecclestone has created the problem of the traditional races, being unable to make money - British, French, German, Belgian, Italian, Canadian, Australian races have all been threatened/axed by him at various times. Obviously Indy wants to hold a race it can make money from and George family would love the revenge. All of a suddenth at looks like a damn good basis for a world Championship.
I don't think it will happen but when you think about it the teams can hold a lot of the cards and it's a big gamble for Mosely/Ecclestone to push this to the brink.
http://www.caradvice.com.au/wp-conte..._leman_003.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by RaccoonFace
i'm waiting for the FOTA meeting rumours to start flying any moment, as they're supposedly still talking:
http://f1sa.com/
Luca di Montezemolo not at meeting due to death of father
Max and Bernie's chances just improved significantly.