The F1 2010 thread

[Meenzer 15432]

Stefan GP.

[Craig 6682]

I have a horrible feeling that they are actually going to be there. Bernie definitely wants it.

[Meenzer 15432]

I suspect Bernie wants someone to buy out Campos and fill that slot, certainly, whether it's shady Stefan or not. Could be entertaining either way...

[Toonraider 0]

It was very clear to me last season that Bernie is starting to 'lose his mind' And I'm being serious.

[Andrew 4721]

It was very clear to me last season that Bernie is starting to 'lose his mind' And I'm being serious.

 

 

this fella? surely not

 

Edited February 18, 2010 by Andrew

[Toonraider 0]

Yes Andrew

 

I'm not poking fun though, its shattering to watch someone close to you deteriorate into someone who doesnt even know who they are themselves

[Craig 6682]

On the contrary Bev, I don't think he is at all - but I think he trys to portray that "i'm stupid and haven't a clue" persona when being interviewed.

 

IMO he knows exactly what he's up to though and he called the whole FIA / FOTA war perfectly. Came out with shock comments (like the one about Hitler) to deflect attention from the negative press the sport was having. He's astute as he's ever been IYAM.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Big talk from Alonso:

Alonso: Ferrari best car I've ever had

By Pablo Elizalde and Matt Beer

 

Fernando Alonso has declared the Ferrari F10 the best car he has ever driven - and says the team is yet to show what it can really do.

 

Ferrari was quickest throughout the first test of the winter at Valencia a fortnight ago, but has kept a lower profile during the past fortnight at Jerez.

 

However Alonso has set some eye-catching times on long runs, and he ended this week's test full of confidence.

 

"There are no reasons to be pessimistic," the double champion told Spanish media. "As of today, this is the best car I've ever had."

 

Having taken over from team-mate Felipe Massa on Friday, Alonso enjoyed the best of the weather at Jerez this week, and was able to accumulate plenty of mileage - logging 269 laps over the past two days.

 

"The two days that I tested it was sunny and the track was dry and I could work more than I thought so I'm very happy," he said. "We have done a good job in terms of reliability and long runs."

 

Alonso said he was not underestimating Ferrari's rivals - but warned them that the Italian squad had not displayed its real potential yet.

 

"Red Bull, McLaren and Renault have been very quick and they have shown their cards, while we are still hiding ours," he said. "We are going to analyse the data, but we are very optimistic. As of today, if I were in a different team I would be looking at Ferrari because everything is going very well.

 

"Maybe where Ferrari needs to improve is in the short runs with little fuel onboard. That's where the Red Bull and the McLaren have been quicker, and they will be the reference to try and improve the F10 in the next test in Barcelona."

 

The Spaniard's declaration comes after McLaren's Jenson Button said that he also reckoned Ferrari could be the team to beat.

 

"I think the Ferrari is a very strong car," Button said yesterday. "If you look at their runs today, they're very consistent. I think they have better consistency than anyone at the moment."

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Looks like Ferrari are trying out a McLaren-style extended engine cover.

[Craig 6682]

Looks like US F1 is dead... and Campos Meta have been rebranded as HRT GP

 

A little US F1 humour for the mix - this was apparently found on the desk in their deserted offices....

 

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

So, what did we think of the new no refueling Formula then?

 

Bit processional really wasn't it? Red Bull clearly have the pace but the achilles heel of reliability remains. Ferrari looked very accomplished. Button and Schumacher a bit underwhelming.

[Toonraider 0]

Loved all the shows, the build up was great....BBC coverage second to none but the race itself? What a great big let down

[Craig 6682]

I'm actually beginning to get a bit fed up with the DC & Eddie pre-amble. They could have fit into 30 minutes what they did in 50 yesterday. I'd love to have seen more coverage of the 60th anniversary of F1 celebrations and footage of the old cars going around the circuit. Seeing Damon's FW18 once again was brilliant but we only saw a couple of seconds of it... shame.

 

As for the racing - Alonso as expected was streets ahead of the rest. If you watch a re-run, take a look at Massa's face when they get out of the car in parc ferme - it was screaming "how the fuck did you manage that?". I reckon 'Muttley' thought he had the measure of Alonso particularly as he outqualified him but Fernando literally blew him away when he got passed Vettel.

 

Speaking of Vettel it was apparently a broken spark plug - freak incident then and not something we can put down to their reliability - more the suppliers of the electrics who if I'm not mistaken, is uniform across all teams these days? What is true is that car has awesome raw pace and will be in the mix no matter what.

 

I think all teams were more conservative on the tyres than they actually needed to be but then this is the first time they'd done runs on full tanks so it was a trip into the unknown. In saying that though, McLaren look to have brake issues and may need to be more coservative than their competitors. This will affect Lewis more than it will Jenson IMO.

 

Mercedes seemed shy of the pace a bit too and I'm not sure that Schumacher is best suited to a no-refuelling strategy. Let it not be forgotten that out of Schumacher's 91 wins, only 2 of those happened before refuelling was introduced in 1994 which was nearly 3 years after his debut. Schumacher perfected strategies when it came to refuelling (3-4 short stints) and I think he'll likely find it harder to adapt than most. And surprise surprise he's moaning about the rules already!

 

Like Brundle, my blood ran cold when Bruno Senna opened his visor - how much like Ayrton did he look? Particularly through the helmet.

 

As for excitement well IMO Bahrain is a boring, shit Tilke track. Not one of the races there has been anything to write home about and therefore not the best option for a season opener - particular with such major rule changes. I reckon Melbourne will be considerably better and a bitter event to judge.

 

Big hats off to Lotus & Hispania as well - for Lotus to get (almost) both cars home in their first race and manage a 2.02 lap was incredible. And for Hispania to even get to the race never mind the 20 or so laps Bruno achieved was commendable too. I'm afraid I'm losing patience with Virgin though - Nick Wirth is evidently obsessed with beating Lotus and is trying to claim the upper hand on account of Glock out-qualifying the Lotuses. To finish first, first you must finish Nick!!

[Rob W 0]

This mornings Times reckons the meeja are howling for a couple of refueling stops a race so there is sommat to watch.......................

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

This mornings Times reckons the meeja are howling for a couple of refueling stops a race so there is sommat to watch.......................

That won't happen. The cars have been optimised with geet massive fuel tanks and its too late to change that now.

 

Some of the teams are asking for each car to have to make two compulsory tyre stops. There needs to be 100% agreement to proceed with that tho, and there's not a chance of the teams whose cars are gentle on tyres doing that. As was mentioned after the race, it would be like turkeys voting for Christmas. On the subject of the post-race discussion, why were Jake and DC taking the piss out of Eddie Jordan for saying Rob Smedley was a Yorkshireman? Normanby is in North Yorkshire.

[Rob W 0]

when the TV people speak Bernie listens

 

Otherwise they'll move on and show Scalextric instead

[Craig 6682]

when the TV people speak Bernie listens

 

Otherwise they'll move on and show Scalextric instead

 

Seriously man Rob go back and waffle on about something you do know about...

 

F1 will command an audience no matter what - after the Football World Cup and the Olympics, it has the biggest global audience of any sporting event but, unlike the other two, happens annually.

 

Sunday's race appeared processional but mitigation on more than one level has been put forward for this. To change the rules based on one single event would be crackers like. Much like when some were suggesting that they shouldn't race when it's wet after the pile up at Spa in 1998.

[Toonraider 0]

I'm actually beginning to get a bit fed up with the DC & Eddie pre-amble. They could have fit into 30 minutes what they did in 50 yesterday. I'd love to have seen more coverage of the 60th anniversary of F1 celebrations and footage of the old cars going around the circuit. Seeing Damon's FW18 once again was brilliant but we only saw a couple of seconds of it... shame.

 

As for the racing - Alonso as expected was streets ahead of the rest. If you watch a re-run, take a look at Massa's face when they get out of the car in parc ferme - it was screaming "how the fuck did you manage that?". I reckon 'Muttley' thought he had the measure of Alonso particularly as he outqualified him but Fernando literally blew him away when he got passed Vettel.

 

Speaking of Vettel it was apparently a broken spark plug - freak incident then and not something we can put down to their reliability - more the suppliers of the electrics who if I'm not mistaken, is uniform across all teams these days? What is true is that car has awesome raw pace and will be in the mix no matter what.

 

I think all teams were more conservative on the tyres than they actually needed to be but then this is the first time they'd done runs on full tanks so it was a trip into the unknown. In saying that though, McLaren look to have brake issues and may need to be more coservative than their competitors. This will affect Lewis more than it will Jenson IMO.

 

Mercedes seemed shy of the pace a bit too and I'm not sure that Schumacher is best suited to a no-refuelling strategy. Let it not be forgotten that out of Schumacher's 91 wins, only 2 of those happened before refuelling was introduced in 1994 which was nearly 3 years after his debut. Schumacher perfected strategies when it came to refuelling (3-4 short stints) and I think he'll likely find it harder to adapt than most. And surprise surprise he's moaning about the rules already!

Like Brundle, my blood ran cold when Bruno Senna opened his visor - how much like Ayrton did he look? Particularly through the helmet.

 

As for excitement well IMO Bahrain is a boring, shit Tilke track. Not one of the races there has been anything to write home about and therefore not the best option for a season opener - particular with such major rule changes. I reckon Melbourne will be considerably better and a bitter event to judge.

 

Big hats off to Lotus & Hispania as well - for Lotus to get (almost) both cars home in their first race and manage a 2.02 lap was incredible. And for Hispania to even get to the race never mind the 20 or so laps Bruno achieved was commendable too. I'm afraid I'm losing patience with Virgin though - Nick Wirth is evidently obsessed with beating Lotus and is trying to claim the upper hand on account of Glock out-qualifying the Lotuses. To finish first, first you must finish Nick!!

 

Me too, I thought that during the qualifying coverage...bought a lump to my throat Its just those eyes with the helmet on that does it.

[Rob W 0]

"F1 will command an audience no matter what "

 

I can remember when Athletics, Swimming, Horse Jumping and Darts were massive on TV...............

[Craig 6682]

"F1 will command an audience no matter what "

 

I can remember when Athletics, Swimming, Horse Jumping and Darts were massive on TV...............

 

Not comparable in the least...

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

"F1 will command an audience no matter what "

 

I can remember when Athletics, Swimming, Horse Jumping and Darts were massive on TV...............

Just out of curiosity Rob, when was swimming a massive tv event?

[Rob W 0]

"F1 will command an audience no matter what "

 

I can remember when Athletics, Swimming, Horse Jumping and Darts were massive on TV...............

Just out of curiosity Rob, when was swimming a massive tv event?

 

 

a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away - I would note that it still gets MASSIVE audiences in Oztralia for example

 

of course the petrol heads will still tune in

 

but once it gets a reputation as a boring sport the vast majority of viewers will turn off - and then the advertisers go and you're back to a minority sport hidden in the corner of the schedules

 

It's happened before and it can happen again

[Guest alex]

There won't be a mid-season rule change, basically.

[Toonraider 0]

I will always follow F1, but it saddens me that its so processional atm. I enjoy the BTCC much more...cant wait for that to start, come on Platooooooooo But for pure driving ability and complete 'remove brain before racing' excitemnt, you cant beat rallying.

[Rob W 0]

There won't be a mid-season rule change, basically.

 

 

you know I'll bet you £ 5 to charity that soem sort of forced stop will be reintroduced before the end of this season's F1, my young shaver......................