F1 News & Rumours

[styla21]

but for now he's just eyebrowman for me.
LMAO:-D

I would HATE to see Alonso at Ferrari. He belongs at Renault. That is the only team he hasn't caused an internal breakdown at (yet).

But most importantly, SURELY Massa is not under review for his performance for only 2 races. He is consistently quick and deserves his spot.

[Mattk]

Massa is definitely a talented driver. He is very quick in qualifying. Humans make mistakes when under high pressure and Massa's made some in the last two races. Big deal. He's proven in the past that he can win.

[blue8]

Revised qualifying rules to be implemented for the Bahrain GP:
The FIA is to revise the rules for qualifying in time for the Bahrain Grand Prix in a bid to ensure there is no repeat of the controversy that marred the session in Malaysia, autosport.com has learned.

In Sepang, a quirk in the current regulations meant that several drivers were touring slowly back to the pits in a bid to conserve fuel while other drivers were on their final qualifying laps.

This led to dangerous scenes when Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso had to weave their way past much slower cars, and resulted in Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton being penalized for blocking their rivals.

With that scenario having prompted widespread calls for the qualifying rules to change, the FIA is to issue an imminent clarification to the teams imposing a maximum laptime for drivers in qualifying.

This will prevent drivers from going too slowly after they have finished their qualifying runs.

It is similar to the rule that is in place for drivers on their reconnaissance laps to the grid - which was prompted by fears of collisions between cars going slowly to conserve fuel and those going fast to evaluate their set-up.

An FIA spokesman confirmed that teams will be notified of the decision to impose a maximum time limit, which is likely to be 120 percent of a normal lap.

"The matter is under discussion and our clarification to the teams and drivers will be that cars returning to the pits having completed their flying lap or laps will be required to do so within a time that we will set," the spokesman told autosport.com.

"This could be approximately 120% of the 'normal' time as we do to prevent drivers going very slowly to the grid to save fuel."

[blue8]

Future grands prix
Abu Dhabi:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Yas_Island_Circuit_map.png
"Spectators will enjoy close, competitive racing played out on three distinct sections of the 5.6km race track. These include high speed areas ending in tight overtaking turns, a street section and a marina section, all of which combine to deliver an unrivalled Formula 1 viewing experience. It will be one of the longest and most demanding tracks in the world, and will include an iconic grandstand hairpin for the ultimate in spectator entertainment," reads an Abu Dhabi Grand Prix press release.The Tilke group has learnt its lessons from the tracks it built in the past and put all those lessons in to this track," Ecclestone said at the official launch of the event last year. "We consider it will offer the best F1 racing in the world."It has been reported that the Abu Dhabi grand prix will be included in the 2009 season sometime in October. It is not yet certain whether it will serve as the final round of the season.

Korea and India
New circuits from both countries are rumored to be included in the 2010 season.

United States
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is under talks wit Bernie Ecclestone to return the US GP in 2009.

Ron Dennis and some other people have voiced out that the maximum number of grands prix in a season should only be 20.

[Bizi Jones]

Ferrari's holy nose

http://img0801.paintedover.com/uploads/thumbs/0801/diapo187hb8.jpg (http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=0801&f=diapo187hb8.jpg)http://img0801.paintedover.com/uploads/thumbs/0801/diapo188le2.jpg (http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=0801&f=diapo188le2.jpg)http://img0801.paintedover.com/uploads/thumbs/0801/diapo189xo7.jpg (http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=0801&f=diapo189xo7.jpg)http://img0801.paintedover.com/uploads/thumbs/0801/diapo190bb3.jpg (http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=0801&f=diapo190bb3.jpg)http://img0801.paintedover.com/uploads/thumbs/0801/diapo194pu4.jpg (http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=0801&f=diapo194pu4.jpg)http://img0801.paintedover.com/uploads/thumbs/0801/diapo195hw6.jpg (http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=0801&f=diapo195hw6.jpg)http://img0801.paintedover.com/uploads/thumbs/0801/diapo196jo4.jpg (http://paintedover.com/uploads/show.php?loc=0801&f=diapo196jo4.jpg)

[5vz-fe]

The car looks very sexy. Thanks for the picx Bizi.

[styla21]

What do you mean by Holy nose?

[Bizi Jones]

there's a hole in the nose...therefore its a holy nose

[Mattk]

'Holey' perhaps? Sounds the same, though. Good one! :)

[dannyroz]

Why do you think they did that? Lowering drag?

[blue8]

According to Autosport:
This 'hole in the nose' is aimed at making use of the high-pressure air that builds up between the front wing and the underside of the nose.

This would improve the car's downforce by sending a better airflow to the rear wing.
What Ferrari have done is to create a channel inside the nose cone that takes this high-pressure region and vents it over the top of the chassis.


From overhead shots the hole's outlet can be seen, with one large exit split into two. This probably helps the exit flow merge with the flow already passing over the car.


Other aerodynamic developments
Shark-fin engine cover for Renault:
http://images.teamtalk.com/08/04/330/Fernando_Alonso_shark_fin_engine_cover2_787628.jpg (http://images.teamtalk.com/08/04/330/Fernando_Alonso_shark_fin_engine_cover2_787628.jpg )
http://images.teamtalk.com/08/04/330/Fernando_Alonso_shark_fin_engine_cover_787627.jpg (http://images.teamtalk.com/08/04/330/Fernando_Alonso_shark_fin_engine_cover_787627.jpg)

'Dumbo ears' for Honda
http://images.teamtalk.com/08/04/330/Honda_dumbo_ears_1_790975.jpg
http://images.teamtalk.com/08/04/330/Rubens_Barrichello_dumbo_ears_787650.jpg (http://images.teamtalk.com/08/04/330/Rubens_Barrichello_dumbo_ears_787650.jpg)

[5vz-fe]

Renaults aero mods looks very ugly. Efficient or not, I don't know.

[Mattk]

^Probably to improve overall stability when turning?

[styla21]

Anyone know what 'Potenza' translates too at all? :?:
Honda's new nose looks remarkably similar to BMW's set-up..
I'd love to know the specific cause and effect of the addition / removal of various pieces of bodywork kit. F1.com puts up illustrations, but they arn't specific enough to show airflow over/under the new pieces.

[styla21]

Super Aguri buyout collapsed.
Magma have pulled out of their proposed takeover leaving Super Aguri's future in doubt again. They are seeking new investors but have warned that they may not compete in the Spanish Grand Prix on 27th April.

Statement From Aguri Suzuki:
SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM confirms that it has been informed by Magma Group, the potential purchasers of the team, that its investors no longer wish to fund the intended acquisition.
It is with deep regret that Aguri Suzuki is now forced to consider the future of the team, however negotiations with other parties continue. Statement to follow shortly..

[ae86_16v]

Renaults aero mods looks very ugly. Efficient or not, I don't know.

Actually wasn't Red Bull the first to use the "Shark Fin"? The Honda ears are kind of ridiculous looking. Almost reminds me of the BMW w/ the Walrus Nose back in 2004.

[styla21]

Porsche: scandal makes F1 unattractive

Friday, April 18th 2008, 13:36 GMT
Car makers Porsche and Volkswagen have ruled out entering Formula One, saying high costs and a sex scandal involving motorsport chief Max Mosley made the sport unattractive to them.
"300 million euros a year - that is just burning money," Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piech told German news magazine Stern on Friday.
"And after the affair with Max Mosley and the women it would not be very savoury to get involved (in Formula One) now," added his Porsche counterpart Wolfgang Porsche.
Porsche are in the process of acquiring a majority shareholding in Volkswagen and both German companies have been seen as potential Formula One entrants in the past.
Photographs and a video of Mosley involved in what British Sunday newspaper News of the World described as a Nazi-style orgy with prostitutes have led to strong criticism of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) boss, particularly in Germany.
German Formula One car makers BMW and Mercedes, which owns 40 percent of McLaren, issued a joint statement this month questioning the 68-year-old Englishman's future at the helm of the sport's governing body.
Mosley has denied any Nazi connotations and is claiming unlimited damages against the News of the World. He has resisted calls to resign.
The Briton has also filed legal action in Paris to prevent the News of the World video being accessed from France via the Internet.
Judicial sources said on Friday that a ruling was expected on April 29 after the French judge considered the request.

[HeilSvenska]

^dur.


Patrick interested in F1 test run

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, May 1st 2008, 10:58 GMT

IndyCar race winner Danica Patrick has set her sights on a Formula One test, with Honda Racing confirming they would be interested in running the Andretti-Green Racing driver.

Patrick's maiden victory at Motegi has prompted fresh speculation about her future, with Honda being an obvious candidate to consider her because the Japanese manufacturer supply her engines.

Speaking to this week's Autosport, Patrick confirmed that she was interested in a run in an F1 car, but only if it was a serious test.

"Every driver would love to drive a Formula One car at some point in their life, so yeah," she said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with a real, proper test.

"I was asked to do a demonstration lap at Indy in 2005, and I said, 'No way. You're making me a show. That's embarrassing.' But I would say that a real test is absolutely something I would do."
Honda Racing F1 CEO Nick Fry has admitted that his team would seriously consider running Patrick for a test, although made it clear no discussions have taken place about the matter.

"We haven't instigated anything, but if Danica wanted to be test driver then we'd be more than happy to talk about it," he explained.

If this does happen, it'll probably very awkward for Jenson Button, who pretty much said women can't drive because their boobs will get in the way and make all the mechanics horny. It'd be even sadder if she runs faster than Button. When was the last time he's got a podium finish in anything?

[dannyroz]

SUPER AGURI OUT OF CHAMPIONSHIP


Following weeks of speculation concerning the future of the team, Super Aguri announced Tuesday that they are to withdraw from the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship with immediate effect.

Super Aguri, founded by former driver Aguri Suzuki, had been participating in Formula One racing since the 2006 season. The Japanese team, who scored their first championship points after only 22 races (Spanish Grand Prix, 2007) and finished ninth in the 2007 constructors’ championship, will cease all activities as of May 6, 2008.

The Honda-powered team, whose driver line-up comprised Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson, ran into financial difficulties last year, and completed little winter testing ahead of the 2008 season as a result. A planned buyout by the Magma Group looked set to save the team until that fell through last month, and only last week Suzuki expressed optimism about a new deal with German automotive company Weigl.

Explaining his decision to withdraw from Formula One racing, Aguri Suzuki released the following statement:

“In order to realize my dream to become an owner of a Formula One Team, I applied for a grid position in the FIA Formula One World Championship in November 2005. Since then, I have participated in the championship for 2 years and 4 months as the SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM, but regretfully I must inform you that the team will be ceasing its racing activities as of today.So sad

[f1fan]

Danica go to Formula-1 :)

[5vz-fe]

Not that much we missed

[Mattk]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/09/1210131210124.html

Lewis Hamilton stars as Apollo in a Turkish production of Fires of Anatolia, a stage show depicting the battle of Troy. Hamilton had fun, but everyone else thinks he looked ridiculous.

[HeilSvenska]

^LOL!
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/05/09/hamilton2_wideweb__470x302,0.jpg
Hamilton then took part in a mock fight scene before being elevated from the stage to take his place next to Zeus.

I shall scour youtube to find this!

[styla21]

Aguri will be back :-) Watch this space.

[HeilSvenska]

Aguri will be back :-) Watch this space.
Not with a $100 million debt and the customer car ban. ;-)

I couldn't care less about Super Aguri. But I'd like to see Prodrive next year, anyone with me?

[styla21]

Oh no, the team will be back. The name Aguri will be missing - but an iteration of the current outfit will be back. Administration > Liquidation > Bankruptcy process can very quickly turns a $100m debt into $10m.

[HeilSvenska]

Oh no, the team will be back. The name Aguri will be missing - but an iteration of the current outfit will be back. Administration > Liquidation > Bankruptcy process can very quickly turns a $100m debt into $10m.
Is that a insider knowledge or a speculation? ;-)

It seems strange that an entire team might disappear, but it's happened before. Arrows, Prost GP, etc... Usually they sell off the team itself or intellectual properties, expertise, and chassis, but Aguri F1 had none of these. There is nothing to sell. Nothing the other teams would want. ...except maybe Force India. The way the team's set up, as one of the "customer car" teams, I just don't see it coming back in any form. ...unless you have a credible evidence suggesting otherwise. It'll probably just end at liquidation. ;-)

You'd have to be some sort of an idiot to inherit a massive debt for a crappy team that struggles to finish last place. Cough, Alex Shnaider, Spyker, Red Bull, and maybe those Indian folk.

[Mattk]

I have to disagree, styla. Aguri formed a new team, not well established. It never got established, and now it never will. This is not a buy-out. This is withdrawal, elimination. It's over. Someone completely new will take over the spot. Aguri is finished.

[styla21]

I have to disagree, styla. Aguri formed a new team, not well established. It never got established, and now it never will. This is not a buy-out. This is withdrawal, elimination. It's over. Someone completely new will take over the spot. Aguri is finished.

Try telling that to PKF in London as administrators.:-)
I am under NDA and will not say too much.

There are core-assets in formula 1 that are not tangible, and cannot be displayed on-balance sheet. These are the assets that really need to be examined, quantified and understood by a potential owner to truly understand it's value.

The Concorde agreement (2.0 - yet to be signed and established, but is drafted and agreed in principal by the teams, for implementation into 2009 season) creates a scenario whereby there is a significant increase in value of FIA license. Its implementation curbs expenditure, whilst dramatically increasing the equality of dispersion of income from FOM (formula one management). You simply cannot establish the value of a team by the value its wind-tunnel, or the cumulative value of the parts bin... This license value is central, and the income integral. In the past, this has not been geared toward the independents. Post Concorde 2.0, the rules change in their favor.

Further, Honda will still supply money through their sponsorship (if a deal is worked out) as long as their are other co-sponsors that create a positive-cash base for the team to function as a going-concern. As Aguri did not have any significant backing, Honda was funding a dead horse and had a fiduciary responsibility to draw a line in the sand.

If you look at the Aguri situation as an arbitrage play, it has merit. The value of the FIA license and the landscape of profit sharing changing so dramatically creates an attractive deal for 09-beyond - for those who can package the team AND do so with necessary sponsors.

I qualify this by referring to Heil's comment also - you are correct that Aguri will not be back (for foreseeable future anyway); my comments are directed toward the Team and it's operations as were formally known as Aguri. :-)

[HeilSvenska]

Death knell for Magny-Cours as Bernie confirms the track's worst fears. And it could possibly mean that there might not be a 2009 French GP. There's always Paul-Ricard, but the access is going to be a problem.


Formula One to quit Magny-Cours

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone says this year's French Grand Prix will be the last held at Magny-Cours.

Ecclestone has long argued that the Circuit de Nevers, 155 miles (250km) south of Paris, is inaccessible and not up to modern F1 standards.

He said in an interview with French sports daily L'Equipe: "The concern is the location - 2008 will be the last time we continue like this.

"I would really love a French Grand Prix in the streets of Paris."

Ecclestone added: "Prime Minister Francois Fillon told me we would see if we could have a Grand Prix in Paris or just outside but that would not necessarily be for 2009, rather for 2010."

After the pair met last year, Fillon's office said three locations - the towns of Versailles and Evry and a site near Disneyland Paris east of the capital - were being considered as replacement venues.

Any delay in finding a new site could see the race dropped from the Formula One calendar.

Magny-Cours has been the permanent home of the French Grand Prix since 1991. The year's race takes place on Sunday, 22 June.

[styla21]

Paris street race could be unreal!:twisted:
Don't know how feasible it is though.. Could be a tighter track than Monaco!

[Mattk]

I've always liked watching the Magny Cours races. It's a good circuit and it's a shame Ecclestone is dumping it from the season.

[dannyroz]

Why is Eccelstone getting rid of all the GPs that made F1 so fucking good? Suzuka, Indy, now Magny Cours...

Whats next Bernie, Silverstone? I should be careful what I say shouldn't I?

[Mattk]

^Money. F1 is not exactly profitable. The Melbourne Grand Prix has been very unpopular with Victorians because the government loses so much money supporting it. It doesn't help that Ron Walker, the Australian GP Corporation chairman has been shamelessly promoting himself and the GP on his own newspapers and radio stations.

Ecclestone, on the hunt for greater profits, has started to move beyond traditional motorsports nations. European grands prix races are being removed to establish new races in the Middle East and Asia. Sure, some of the new circuits have been successful (e.g. Sepang), but some are just contrived, like the night race in Singapore.

I used to live in Singapore, and whilst the F1 coverage on cable TV there is first-class, there is no motorsports in Singapore. The best they can do is go to Malaysia (because that's where the nearest race track is), or participate in carpark rallies, where they close off outdoor carparks and race around them. Fun, but hardly sophisticated.

What Ecclestone has done is essentially abandon motorsports enthusiasts and motorsports nations in favour of getting the big bucks. Yes, he has to run a business, but F1 is more than a business in the strict Chicago School sense. F1 is a community and a culture and that needs to be developed.

[Pokiou]

BYE BYE to all the good F1 tracks i tell you..

[styla21]

.. and hello night race in Singapore, and possibly the streets of Paris ;-)
Some may claim this turns F1 into a spectacle - I think if tracks designed properly could create both a spectacle and simultaneously a true racers circuit.

[Pokiou]

Albert Park.. i still think it the best track.

[blue8]

2010 British Grand Prix in jeopardy:
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has warned that the British Grand Prix will be dropped from the calendar in 2010 unless Silverstone's owners agree to his financial demands.

With talks ongoing between Ecclestone and the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), a deal has been put on the table that will cost Silverstone £11.2 million for 2010, rising at a rate of five percent each year after that.

That proposal was sent back to Ecclestone with queries, prompting a stalemate scenario that leaves the future of the British GP in doubt - even though Silverstone are ready to make the improvements to the circuit that have been demanded.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Ecclestone said he was not optimistic of a settlement being reached.

"I suppose they could come back to me. They could get the building done in six months. But I would not put any money on it," he explained.

"The BRDC know the terms. If they meet them, then we are in business. But at the moment they can't and therefore there is no race in 2010."

It would be a shame if Silverstone were to be dropped from the F1 calendar. The circuit is one of the best!

As for the future of the Australian GP, a feasibility study will be conducted on the Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney to determine whether it can be brought up to the standards of F1.

[styla21]

As for the future of the Australian GP, a feasibility study will be conducted on the Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney to determine whether it can be brought up to the standards of F1.

Well, fuck. Kiss the Australian GP goodbye. :crying:
I've raced around Eastern creek quite a few times.. And it is a LONG way from F1 standards. Why on earth not keep Albert Park as a street circuit?

I thought the main "issue" was the time difference affecting program. :?:

[blue8]

^ The contract of Albert Park on hosting the night race expires on 2010 and Ecclestone has reportedly threatened not to renew the contract unless the race is held at night. Melbourne organizers are not keen on the idea of a night race while Sydney supposedly is interested...

[Pokiou]

wtf.. i have to wake up early for all the races or even goto bed late... for once the rest of the world can wake up early and watch the Melbourne GP..

Eccelstone is seriously driving a steak knife into the heard of the F1 league isn't he... this is ridiculous..

[Mattk]

As for the future of the Australian GP, a feasibility study will be conducted on the Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney to determine whether it can be brought up to the standards of F1.
I read about this, and also read that they're not really bothering because Eastern Creek will never be F1 quality. It's a great track in its own regard, but not for F1.

[Kissyface]

FOX broadcast affiliates will be airing the Formula 1 Grand Prix of France five hours later than the scheduled start at 2 o'clock GMT.

I only know of the Official Live Timing site for me to get real-time coverage.

Any suggestions?

[styla21]

I only know of the Official Live Timing site for me to get real-time coverage.

Any suggestions?

Got you covered. ;-)

http://www.soccer-live.pl/ITVF1/f1player.php

Also this one:
http://stream.ra1kkonen.com/

[Kissyface]

Thanks styla :biggrin:

[blue8]

Provisional 2009 calendar:

29 March - Australia
5 April - Malaysia
19 April - Bahrain
10 May - Spain
24 May - Monaco
7 June - Canada
21 June - Great Britain
28 June - France
12 July - Germany
26 July - Hungary
9 August - Turkey
23 August - Europe (Valencia)
6 September - Italy
13 September- Belgium
27 September - Singapore
11 October - Japan
18 October - China
1 November - Brazil
15 November - Abu Dhabi

Unfortunately, there won't be a US GP. I am looking forward to the Abu Dhabi race though.

*** Sorry for not being around the F1 thread as often because my PC crashed (still is) and I don't really have any convenient access to the web. Thanks to Carbodiox for starting the GP threads! :-)

[5vz-fe]

I am actually getting abit tired of Australia going first all the time.

[styla21]

*** Sorry for not being around the F1 thread as often because my PC crashed (still is) and I don't really have any convenient access to the web. :-)
I wondered where you had been mate! I'm looking forward to you making your comeback!:-P
I am actually getting a bit tired of Australia going first all the time.
Why does it matter which goes first? I guess it makes sense to kick off that 1st Asia-pacific leg first. Which do you think should replace it?

[5vz-fe]

I think it should kick off with the newer circuits. You know...don't you sometimes just wish the next race is Singapore? I guess that's a good way of keeping F1 fans going thru the season, but the wait is too long.....

[styla21]

Yeah that makes sense - definitely looking forward to Singapore! Abu Dhabi at the very end of next season won't help much with impatience either!! :-)

[Mattk]

Come on, when the Australian grands prix were at Adelaide, we went last. Melbourne hasn't always gone first. A few years ago, they switched us with Malaysia, I think.

[5vz-fe]

^Sorry dude, I guess I am just tired of waiting for Singapore that's all.

[Mattk]

No worries, I was sceptical about the night race at first, but having read a lot about it, it seems like it'll come off well. I'm not sure how they determine the order of races; it's not all that geographically friendly. If I had my way, I'd do a sort of around the world type tour. Sometimes, it's just all over the place.

[blue8]

Singapore night race on September is perfect because the weather is still rainy by that time of the year. Imagine the chaos during race day (potentially very dangerous though)!!!

There were talks that Sepang is willing to host a night race so we might have 1 during the early rounds.

It has just been confirmed that Magny-Cours will once again host the 2009 French GP.

[styla21]

It has just been confirmed that Magny-Cours will once again host the 2009 French GP.

Damn. I was looking forward to a Paris street race :twisted:
Was it confirmed, or just tentatively included in the preliminary schedule for next year. My understanding was the dates and locations were preliminaries at this stage.

[Mattk]

^Usually by this stage, circuits are already confirmed. But Magny-Cours may lose its spot in 2010, which sucks, because I think it's one of the best races to watch.

[HeilSvenska]

As long as Spa's in there, I feel like I should care about F1 at least a bit.

British GP and German GP on FOX. Those will be the only times I watch F1 on TV, it seems.
Maybe Belgian GP online. I hope it rains.

[blue8]

Yeah, Magny-Cours is sure to be part next year. By 2010, it will start considering other venues for the race.

The return of Suzuka should also be fun.

I want the Hungaroring out! :mrgreen:

[Mattk]

^Won't happen. It's the only Eastern European track. Until Russia gets a slot, you're stuck with the Hungary Grands Prix

[blue8]

David Coulthard will retire by the end of the season:

"I would like to announce today my decision to retire from racing in Formula One at the end of this season," the statement read.

"I will remain actively involved in the sport as a consultant to Red Bull Racing focusing on testing and development of the cars. I have an open mind as to whether or not I will compete again in the future, in some other form of motorsport, so I am definitely not hanging up my helmet.

"My decision to retire was taken earlier in the year and is based on a desire to stop while I am still competitive and enjoying the immense challenge that grand prix driving represents. I also have the desire to look for new challenges within the sport.

"The decision to make this announcement at the British GP should be an obvious one for all to understand, as I have achieved two of my 13 F1 victories at Silverstone and I am a member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, which hosts this event.

"I am proud of my work at Red Bull Racing and will continue to race with the same focus until the last lap in Brazil.
Thereafter I will continue to help the team develop and move towards their ultimate goal of winning races."

Mark Webber signs a new 1-year deal with Red Bull

"I am very happy to have signed up for another year with Red Bull Racing so early in the season," said Webber. "Continuing with Red Bull Racing for 2009 was a very easy decision for me to make.
"As far back as the middle of last year, it was very clear to me that I enjoyed working with the team, playing my part in its development and helping it move forward.
"So far this year, our reliability has improved and that's allowed us to exploit our performance.
"The progress the team has made in the last 10 months has been excellent and I am looking forward to carrying that momentum through to the end of the season."

Rumor:
Vettel to move up to Red Bull
Bruno Senna to sign with Toro Rosso

[Mattk]

http://news.smh.com.au/sport/aussie-grand-prix-to-be-twilight-fixture-20080704-31kg.html

The Melbourne Grand Prix will start at 5pm for the next seven years. Not liking it...

[styla21]

FIA Gameplan for 2011 - New rules and Regulations, Cost cutting, and performance adaptions:
FIA President Max Mosley has asked the Formula One teams for proposals on how to cut the costs of competing in the sport by 50 percent. The proposals, which must be submitted within three months and have the support of the majority of teams, will help form revised regulations for the 2011 season.

“Formula One is becoming unsustainable,” said Mosley in a letter to the teams. “The major manufacturers are currently employing up to 1000 people to put two cars on the grid. This is clearly unacceptable at a time when all these companies are facing difficult market conditions.”

Mosley wants to see rules that will not only halve manufacturer teams’ costs but also ensure that independent teams remain financially viable. He says both must be achieved without affecting the spectacle of Formula One racing in any way.

As part of the changes, Mosley is also targeting a 50 percent reduction in fuel consumption by 2015, without affecting speeds, and wants the rules to encourage the research of road-relevant, rather than Formula One-specific technologies.

He also wants regulations that encourage closer racing and more passing by ensuring “that cars remain aerodynamically efficient when in close proximity to one another”. Should the teams be unable to agree a set of proposals by October 3, the FIA itself will prepare new rules for 2011.

The FIA's statement in full:

NEW RULES FOR 2011
We need proposals for regulations to come into force no later than 2011. These should be delivered to the FIA by 3 October 2008 and be sufficiently detailed to allow precise rules to be drafted.

Reduced costs:
It is for the teams to decide how to reduce costs and also to decide if there should be restrictions on the development budgets of the manufacturer teams and, if so, what these should be and how they would be enforced.

The rules must also allow a back-of-the-grid independent team to operate profitably.

Teams which design and develop their own drive train (usually manufacturer teams) must be prepared to supply a complete and fully competitive drive train to an independent team at very low cost. We would suggest about 2 million Euro per season per team. The complete drive train would include all the new energy-saving technologies (eg KERS) and cost would be a design constraint as it is in the car industry.

Among possible cost savings which the teams may wish to consider are: restrictions on simulators, wind tunnel use, CFD and other home-base facilities, together with long-life chassis components, up to ten-race drive trains, no gear ratio changes during life of drive train, current parc fermé rules extended for entire race weekend and other proposals to reduce the cost per kilometre of operating a Formula One car and the costs of going racing.

We would not object to shared technology, eg of core engine.

Measures to reduce costs must not affect the spectacle in any way.

Improved fuel efficiency:
The objective is a 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption for 2011 progressing to 50% in 2015, while keeping lap times and top speeds at current levels.

We believe this can best be regulated by placing a limit on both fuel flow and the total quantity of fuel used in the race (thus limiting both maximum and average power). The road-relevant research objective would then be more power from less fuel.

We hope to see many new energy-efficient technologies deployed. We would like rules to maximise the incentive to develop road-relevant devices for improved fuel efficiency. Teams will need these in order to obtain maximum power from a limited amount of fuel.

We would suggest limiting KERS to 200kw out and 300kw in, with maximum of 1.6 MJ stored energy. We would not exclude taking energy from the front wheels during braking.

We would not exclude the possibility of variable aerodynamics.

Again, it is for the teams to decide how these objectives can best be achieved and whether any, and if so which, restrictions should be placed on the drive train technology needed to produce the necessary improvements in efficiency.

Improved racing:
The 2009 Technical Regulations are intended to improve the racing. We would like to go further, with developments to allow the cars to run in close proximity to one another without losing performance. One possibility is that the car behind should be faster by virtue of being behind not, as at present, slower.

Again, it is for the teams to decide how to achieve these objectives.

[blue8]

More Alonso-to-Ferrari rumors

Reports that Fernando Alonso could be heading to Ferrari in the not-too-distant future have gained momentum with the news that Spanish company Santander is set to swap to Ferrari.

According to reports from Autosport 'high level sources' at Santander have confirmed that the Spanish banking giant will be leaving McLaren and heading to Ferrari as their main sponsors from 2010 onwards.

Santander joined McLaren as a sponsor in 2007 when the team initially signed Alonso, however, the Spaniard's stay in Woking was troubled and short-lived with him returning to Renault at the end of just one year.

Alonso, though, isn't expected to remain at Renault for too long with reports in the press linking him to Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari seat come the end of 2009 when the Finn's current deal expires.

And when that happens Santander are expected to announce their decision to swap from McLaren to Ferrari.

The Spanish banking giant, though, is refusing to comment on the proposed deal.

Asked about a move to Ferrari, a Santander spokeswoman said: "We are not making any comments about this.

"We have a contract with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes until the end of 2009."

Interestingly, Alonso said that he would make his decision on where to drive by the end of the summer which is sometime around September. During that month of course, the Italian Grand Prix will be held - the time Ferrari usually make major announcements.

Although such rumors continue, I don't think it would happen. I would much rather see Robert Kubica in Ferrari :mrgreen:

[Mattk]

There's no way Ferrari will dump Raikonnen unless he leaves of his own accord. He seems to have fitted in very well and he's already won a title with them.

[styla21]

There's no way Ferrari will dump Raikonnen unless he leaves of his own accord. He seems to have fitted in very well and he's already won a title with them.

I don't think that is the rumour.. If the above rumour has merit, it would result would be a Raikonnen / Alonso dream team for Ferrari, and Massa would be elsewhere? However, what is his current contract?

I hope Kubica stays with BMW as by 2009; if they get the new modifications right, they could be genuine title contenders. With a bit of luck they could do it this year, but i'm not holding my breath..:-)

[ae86_16v]

I don't think that is the rumour.. If the above rumour has merit, it would result would be a Raikonnen / Alonso dream team for Ferrari, and Massa would be elsewhere? However, what is his current contract?


Won't happen because Alonso demands No. 1 Driver Status. Also won't Kimi be 30+ by the time his deal ends. Probably won't be as fast by then.

[Mattk]

Alonso, though, isn't expected to remain at Renault for too long with reports in the press linking him to Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari seat come the end of 2009 when the Finn's current deal expires.
This is what I was reading from! I personally think Massa would be more likely to go, but he's winning races as well. He's doing better than Alonso, so it wouldn't be wise to dump him. I reckon Alonso's glory days are past. He's won a couple of championships, but he no longer has the best platform for victory and all the good spots are taken by good men.

[styla21]

What do you think of Alonso moving to BMW, then?

[Mattk]

^Possible, but there is no way BMW are going to dump Kubica. Heidfeld has been in the team since the beginning of his career (back when it was Sauber Petronas) and whilst he's getting toward the end of his career, I have a feeling he's going to leave when he wants to. Besides, he hasn't been performing badly. Briatore seems to like Alonso a lot he's not going to give him up all that easily.

[Kissyface]

According to the UK's Telegraph, McLaren are using a system from inside the car that controls wheelspin by means of extra paddles on the steering wheel. A more elaborate description is here at this link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport//formulaone/2436986/German-Grand-Prix-Steering-clear-of-trouble.html


I started a discussion thread with a picture of it here: http://www.motorworld.net/forum/showthread.php?t=57879

[Pokiou]

good work to Mclaren for having a excellent way of thinking...

wathc ferrari cry and get the system baned...

i put a 10ner on the table.

[Mattk]

^Yeah, mate, it hasn't even been confirmed true...

[Pokiou]

i so want mclaren to dominate for the next few years ... cause im just very curious to see what regulations they bring to slow them down !!!

[blue8]

Fernando Alonso is reportedly poised to join Honda for the 2009 season.

According to The Guardian newspaper, the former World Champion is ready to leave Renault and has agreed a $15m deal with the Brackley outfit to partner Jenson Button.

Alonso re-joined Renault for 2008 after his one-year stint at McLaren ended in acrimony and accusation and his stay with Honda is set to be similarly brief. It is claimed that 'the Spaniard looks likely to join Ferrari in 2010 although the precise date of his arrival is difficult to establish as Kimi Raikkonen, the present World Champion, is contracted to the Italian team until the end of next year and Felipe Massa to the end of 2010. Driving the Honda for one year - and maybe two - might offer Alonso the best stop-gap deal available.'

With Raikkonen and Felipe Massa set to be retained by Ferrari and a return to McLaren inconceivable, BMW were considered to be the most likely escape route for Alonso from Renault. However, aware of the rumours that Alonso has already agreed to join Ferrari in the future, they were unwilling to sign him on anything but a binding, long-term contract.

Honda have made no secret of their interest in recruiting Alonso, even for a single season, with chief executive Nick Fry recently declaring: "Fernando is a wonderful driver who would be a fantastic asset to any of the top teams, including this one. The job Ross Brawn and I have is to build a world championship-winning team."

The Guardian reports that 'one of the key reasons the twice World Champion is considering a move from Renault was the arrival of Brawn as the Honda team's principal this season,' while, for their part, 'The feeling at Honda is that a driver of Alonso's calibre could be worth as much as 0.6sec a lap and the Spaniard's test and development talents are just what Honda need in 2009 when a raft of new aerodynamic rules, slick tyres and KERS energy regeneration systems, are being introduced.'

From what I've heard, Alonso wants to move to a team with a better and faster car. Honda certainly doesn't have it. But they do have Ross Brawn and with a world champion alongside, the team could produce something good.

[Spiffu]

I don't think so, he's gonna replace Raikkonen in Ferrari in 2009.

[newalopez]

Yeah, Magny-Cours is sure to be part next year. By 2010, it will start considering other venues for the race.

The return of Suzuka should also be fun.

I want the Hungaroring out! :mrgreen:

I also want Suzuka back :mrgreen:

I don't think Fuji it's as good as Suzuka :thumbdown:

[Mattk]

I don't think Alonso is going anywhere. He seems past his prime and very unfocused. He's turning into Jacques Villeneuve.

[styla21]

From what I've heard, Alonso wants to move to a team with a better and faster car. Honda certainly doesn't have it.

..Don't have it YET ;-).
Honda are investing huge resources and I fully expect them to make some huge gains these coming seasons.:-)

[Pokiou]

^^
whats what they all say.

[Mattk]

^To be honest, I agree. Both Honda and Toyota are slowly getting their act together and building decent packages.

[styla21]

^^
whats what they all say.

Yeap. But watch what they do, rather than just listen to what they say Pok. ;-)
Honda is only bettered in terms of $$ spent, by Toyota.
Additionally, F1 investment without an intelligent team is redundant - Honda have assembled a very strong team led by Brawn. These factors combine should put them further and further up the grid next season / beyond.

^To be honest, I agree. Both Honda and Toyota are slowly getting their act together and building decent packages.
Wise man :)

[5vz-fe]

Can Ross + Alonso Matches Ross + Schumi ?

15 mil for Alonso sounds abit cheap.

[Pokiou]

Like i said. They hire all these drivers to race for them and hope the world of the driver. BUT if the car is crap what do you expect Alonso to do ??
It will be 2010 before Honda is really competetive.

[styla21]

Like i said. They hire all these drivers to race for them and hope the world of the driver. BUT if the car is crap what do you expect Alonso to do ??
It will be 2010 before Honda is really competetive.
Really, why 2010?
Next years cars introduces new technologies and dynamics and thus levels the playing field somewhat. Honda are spending most of this year refining the 2009 car, they will also have a substantial development advantage over the others.

[yellky]

Although such rumors continue, I don't think it would happen. I would much rather see Robert Kubica in Ferrari :mrgreen:


so..
more Kubica-to-Ferrari rumors :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Behind closed doors, another equally intense struggle is taking place in the paddock – and the prize is a seat at Ferrari in 2010. BMW's highly rated Pole Robert Kubica is believed to have negotiated a 12-month extension to his contract, rather than sign the team's preferred three-year deal. If BMW do not emerge as a consistently competitive force next year, Kubica will be free to seek alternative employment – and out-of-sorts world champion Raikkonen's Ferrari contract expires at the end of 2009.DailyTelegraph :: http://tiny.pl/8xq5

[styla21]

^^ It blows me away that Kimi is considered to have "lost his edge".
He's had 3, maybe 4 unfortunate events this season beyond his control. Engine failure, exhaust failure, running up Sutil (Monaco), blown-engine in Valencia...
He would be high in the points stakes, if he wasn't plagued by the bad-luck run he's had recently.
Yes, that is racing. No, it doesn't mean he's necessarily lost his edge.

[Pokiou]

his shit.

[SHIZL]

dont forget australia with kimi but i think he is still a great driver it will be intresting to see how the year plays out and if ferrari replaces drivers next year

[styla21]

his shit.

I don't follow you. Elaborate?

[dr vinyl]

I dont think Honda will change drivers for next year.

Also Kimi still has all that talent weve seen before.
He can never be written off..

[Alelanza]

^^ It blows me away that Kimi is considered to have "lost his edge".
He's had 3, maybe 4 unfortunate events this season beyond his control. Engine failure, exhaust failure, running up Sutil (Monaco), blown-engine in Valencia...
He would be high in the points stakes, if he wasn't plagued by the bad-luck run he's had recently.
Yes, that is racing. No, it doesn't mean he's necessarily lost his edge.

I think some people expect Ferrari's #1 to be schumacher after mika like at all times, and the same people also think Massa is rubbish, to which i disagree. So i guess the last few races make Kimi seem sub-rubbish to all these followers. Mind you, due to the great success Ferrari has had the last years, they also have a ton of crappy fans, that don't really know the sport that much, they just like to feel like winners w/o much effort.

[Mattk]

Ferrari over the years has never overtly forced drivers out. Irvine, Schumacher and Barrichello all left of their own accord, and that's all who've left.

[dr vinyl]

Is this true about Eddie Irvine.
with regards to Schumacher he is still on the pay roll,
Ive heard people say the reason why Schumacher he is still on the pay roll is
so as he wont drive for Merc..

Can anybody add comment about this

[Ferrarizzo]

What exactly does Schumacher do at the races?

[dr vinyl]

adviser when to pit what tyres.
Apart from being atop driver he made all his own choices too.

[dr vinyl]

Let me elaborate on my earlier comment.
I dont think Eddie Irvine was allowed reach his Full potential with Ferrari
10 years ago I was livin in Kiliney.(Dublin) Eddie Irvine had a house in the Neighbourhood & on
the drive way he had the Ferrari logo painted.
If you remember all of these drivers (Irvine, Schumacher and Barrichello)were brought into F1
by Eddie Jordan(who also lives in Kiliney) to drive for Jordan Racing.
after Micheals first start in 1991 Belgian GP for Jordan he was pouched
by the Benetton team.(I say first start cause Micheal only made it to
the first corner)
Now this is were it starts to get a bit more complex & murky.
A legal battle due to the fact that Micheal signed a deal with Benetton
(before the next GP)
The Courts favoured Benetton
I have an old interview with Jordan & he said
(I would like to say I brought Micheal to my team because he was the
best driver out there But thats not true I brought Micheal to my team
because he was bringing Money.)
Well later on after Micheal became Double world champion & was now
signed with Ferrari.
I have another interview with Eddie Jordan This time he says
(the reason why I brought Micheal to my team was because I followed him
& his progress in world sports prototype championship & F3)
Micheals with Ferrari all is good lots of money
& his next two team mates come from Jordan Racing,Eddie & Rubens.
So now Eddie Jordan Signs up Micheals brother Ralphie.
Who if Im not mistaken was being managed by Micheal at the time.
Most things in F1 2day concerning Drivers & Teams are complex..

By the way all the Spanish think Alonso is gonna be with Ferrari next year.

[Pokiou]

I don't follow you. Elaborate?


Kimi is only as good as the car is. He can play catch up with the back of the grip and over take then as his car has more pace.. so its oly natural not talent.

He struggles when he gets to the top of the grid. Hence why the faster cars can start in the bottom and NOT really care as they are alot faster and more developed.

[Mattk]

Kimi is only as good as the car is.
Which perhaps explains why McLaren hired him and not their former protege Nick Heidfeld? Ron Dennis may be a tool, but he's not an idiot. You logic is not backed by fact.

[dr vinyl]

BRUNO SENNA FOR F1 2009 OR NOT IN HIS OWN WORDS

Bruno Senna has insisted that he has not yet secured any form of Formula 1 deal for next year
- and says his preference is to race rather than accepting a test and reserve role.

The GP2 title contender has been linked with a number of F1 teams during the course of the season,
although his chances of securing a Toro Rosso drive appear to have taken a knock with today's news
that the squad will hold a shoot-out between Takuma Sato and Sebastien Buemi later this month.

Writing in his column for German website Motorsport Magazin,
Senna said talks were ongoing with a variety of F1 teams, but that nothing was finalised.

"I have of course been listening recently to all the whispering,
according to which I've supposedly already signed up for Formula 1 next year,
with Toro Rosso, or as test driver for BMW-Sauber," he wrote.
"All I can say to that is there's no truth in it; up to now nothing has been signed.

"At the moment we are holding serious talks with different people from different teams,
but nothing is decided yet."

Senna added that he was looking for the best deal for his long-term F1 future rather than just
accepting the most attractive 2009 offer, and that he ideally wanted to keep racing next year.

"We have to think about every single aspect of the decision,
looking not just at the 2009 season, but also the bigger picture," he said.

"What holds true is that fundamentally I would rather be in a cockpit than have a year as a test driver
with no race practice."

He believes his situation will become clear once a few other driver moves within the F1 paddock are finalised.

"Obviously I hope everything will be clarified by the end of the GP2 season - not only by me,
but also from some other developments and decisions that depend on Formula 1," Senna wrote.

"After that it will be great to get my concrete preparations for 2009 up and running."

The 25-year-old Brazilian, nephew of the late Ayrton Senna,
is currently 13 points behind series leader Giorgio Pantano with four rounds remaining in this year's GP2 championship.

Direct copy of an ItV email

[frnk]

Is this true about Eddie Irvine.
with regards to Schumacher he is still on the pay roll,
Ive heard people say the reason why Schumacher he is still on the pay roll is
so as he wont drive for Merc..

Can anybody add comment about this

My understanding of Irvine's departure from Ferrari was that it was a result of frustration in his number 2 driver's seat culminating in him losing out in the 1999 world championship. He left for Jaguar in the hopes that he could step out of Schumi's shadow and acheive some results as a lead driver.

As for the Jordan contraversy with Schumi you should read James Allen's biography of Schumacher, it has a pretty interesting insight. In the end Schumi was pretty lucky with the circumstances under which he came into F1, there are even conspiracies about Schumi intentionally breaking the clutch on his Jordan on his first start so that he could rest on the laurels of his great qualifying without having to drive the entire race.

[dr vinyl]

My understanding of Irvine's departure from Ferrari was that it was a result of frustration in his number 2 driver's seat culminating in him losing out in the 1999 world championship. He left for Jaguar in the hopes that he could step out of Schumi's shadow and acheive some results as a lead driver.

IMO Schumi saw Irvine asa treath & payed him a few mill to be second driver,
Whatever you think about Irvine hes not studip & taking a drive with Jag was not gonna make him more conpetative..
While Schumi had a broken leg.I belive Irvine could have won the championship But he did not have the backing of the team,If he came in for a 6 second pit stop it took more than 12 seconds or they had the wrong tyres ready..
Leaving him in a hopeless position....

As for the Jordan contraversy with Schumi you should read James Allen's biography of Schumacher, it has a pretty interesting insight. In the end Schumi was pretty lucky with the circumstances under which he came into F1, there are even conspiracies about Schumi intentionally breaking the clutch on his Jordan on his first start so that he could rest on the laurels of his great qualifying without having to drive the entire race.

I dont know about that conspiracy but as the years passed money changed hands drivers changed teams.
But on my last post looking back I dont want to Make Eddie Jordan look bad
he was just playing the game the best he could...
:thumbup:

[dr vinyl]

Belgian GP heres a link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7603179.stm

[frnk]

I dont know about that conspiracy but as the years passed money changed hands drivers changed teams.
But on my last post looking back I dont want to Make Eddie Jordan look bad
he was just playing the game the best he could...
:thumbup:

Yeah definately, Schumi had alot of backing already when he entered F1 having driven sports cars for Mercedes and I believe at the time Eddie Jordan was after a driver who could bring the most money to the team to keep it running. In the end Eddie got his money and his team stayed competitive for a little bit longer and he also has the claim to fame that he gave the most successful driver in the history of the sport his first drive.

[blue8]

Raikkonen's contract extended until the end of the 2010 season :thumbup:
Ferrari have extended reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen's deal to the end of the 2010 season, ending speculation that Fernando Alonso will be joining the team.

A team statement read: "Ferrari announces that it has extended its agreement with Kimi Raikkonen to the end of the 2010 race season.

"Therefore, the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver line-up remains unchanged for the next two coming seasons."

Raikkonen's teammate, Felipe Massa, signed a deal through to the end of 2010 last year.

Raikkonen has endured a difficult season in 2008 and his chances of retaining his crown look slim with five races to go.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said last month, however, that he expected Raikkonen to return to his best form soon.

"All this criticism (of Raikkonen) reminds me of when (Filippo) Inzaghi was at Juventus: if he didn't score for three games, everyone would say he was in crisis," said di Montezemolo.

"It can't be forgotten that he's the world champion, and that last year he won in his first season with Ferrari, while many people never thought he would do so. Now he has 17 victories and I hope he'll get back to winning ways in the next Grand Prix in Belgium. Anyway, he's not a driver in crisis.

"Kimi is motivated and we must work to put him in the conditions to start races nearer the front, especially on these new circuits which I don't like and are bad for F1: you can't overtake on them, and nine times out of ten the man on pole wins."

[yellky]

today (15.9.2008):

[....]
At the end of the season we will announce our driver pairing for the coming year. There has been a lot of speculation regarding this issue in recent weeks, and at Monza new rumours were circulating in the paddock. Nonetheless, we won't take part in these speculations but will simply take our time in making our decision.

Sincerely,

Mario Theissen

[Jona]

Kimi is officially in the number 2 seat for the rest of the season, aiding Massa to win the championship. This is all over the finnish news today.

[5vz-fe]

James Allen is a total fool.....his biography on Schumi prolly has very little credibility if any.

[blue8]

Alonso to remain at Renault?
Fernando Alonso will reportedly remain at Renault next season after rejecting an offer from BMW.

Alonso is a hot commodity for next year's Championship as the double World Champion has yet to put pen to paper, making him arguably the best available driver.

And as such at least three teams are known to be chasing his signature; BMW, Honda and Renault.

However, according to Spanish sports daily AS it is Renault who are set to succeed in their quest after Alonso turned down BMW and ruled out Honda.

The newspaper reports that BMW offered Alonso a multi-year deal, however, the Spaniard wasn't pleased with the duration as he wants to be free to leave for Ferrari should a seat become available at the end of 2010.

BMW, though, were insistent on a long-term contract, resulting in Alonso turning Mario Theissen's outfit down.

As for Honda the Spaniard is concerned by the team's lack of progress this season, which has resulted in a mere 14 points in 14 races and little sign that things are set to improve.

The Spaniard has therefore made his decision and is set to stick with Renault for the 2009 Championship in the hope of heading to Ferrari as soon as a seat is available.

I can't see why he wants to remain there. I guess he badly wants a Ferrari seat...

[ae86_16v]

Alonso to remain at Renault?


I can't see why he wants to remain there. I guess he badly wants a Ferrari seat...

Seriously, I thought all of this would've been over after Kimi renewed for another 2 years. Haha, "Hey Alonso, no means no."

Haha.

[styla21]

Not sure why would reject the BMW offer.. However i'm sure Renault are putting a sophisticated machine together for next year.. Only 1 world championship ago, they were the ones holding the crown for the second time. He'd have his reasons.

[Alelanza]

As per Briatore, Ghosn approved a 30-40% budget increase for next year. The way he put it sounded weird, but if true it might partially explain Alonso staying at Renault.

[blue8]

It just won't die down! Alonso to Ferrari (Part 7)
The renewal of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari tenure was announced recently at Monza, but the news has not stopped speculation about the future of the Italian team's lineup.

Mediaset, a major Italian television network, is claiming this week that Fernando Alonso could still be poised to switch to the Maranello-based team following next year's championship.

It is reported that Alonso, 27, has already signed an agreement, and that Ferrari will simply terminate Raikkonen's newly-announced deal with a small buyout.

Mediaset said the contract extension announced by Ferrari at Monza was the result of Raikkonen triggering a one-sided option in his current contract to renew for one more year.

The Finn's option, however, reportedly leaves the door open for Ferrari to pay a financial penalty and annul the contract.
Mediaset said Ferrari's unannounced new 2010 sponsor, Santander, could pick up the bill.

The rumour also ties in with rising speculation that Alonso is set to stay at Renault for another season in 2009, rather than switch to BMW Sauber or Honda and then need to move yet again to Ferrari in 2010.

I hope none of these rumors are true. Indeed, Raikkonen has been having a terrible and unlucky season, but he's still the defending world champion.

[blue8]

Plans for increased overtaking: :thumbup:
Many Formula One fans are worried that the art of overtaking is dying a slow death in Formula One. However, for a change the FIA appears to be doing something about their concerns.

This weekend's inaugural Singapore Grand Prix around the Marina Bay appeared to sound the death knell for overtaking. This comes just a month after the European GP in Valencia where the race was a procession from start to finish.

World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton complained after the race: "We do need to be able to follow closely and do more overtaking, for sure, because it gets boring. Look at the last race in Valencia - there was no overtaking at all - so it can be a bit dull. I definitely support the move to try and make F1 more exciting."

Well, Hamilton could get his wish. The Independent reports that three of F1's top teams - McLaren, Renault and Ferrari - who along with the FIA formed the Overtaking Working Group have drawn up new aerodynamic regulations for 2009, which they hope will lead to more passing opportunities on difficult circuits.

Horns, bunny ears, triple wings, anvil/shark fins and the other winglets create turbulence behind a car and have a major effect on the aero of the ensuing car.

However from next year, appendages will be reduced, upper aero devices on cars will be outlawed, the rear wings will be smaller and mounted higher, while the front wings will be lowered from 150mm to 75 mm and made wider.

Also, on the front wing will be an adjustable flap, which the drivers can adjust three degrees, twice per lap. The moveable aerodynamics will help drivers to main the car's balance, which should reduce the understeer that is currently hampering overtaking chances.

The OWG's research suggest that a driver needs an advantage of two seconds a lap to have a chance of overtaking, but with the introduction of the various measures the car will now only need to be 0.5 seconds faster to overtake.

Restructuring race weekends:
Formula One teams are considering a radical shake-up of the race weekend format as part of their plans to revitalize the sport.

The new Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) is evaluating all aspects of Grand Prix racing, and autosport.com has learned that part of the discussions revolve around a total overhaul of the way weekends are structured.

In particular, the focus is on ensuring that Fridays deliver more for fans - and one proposal being floated is for the current extended practice sessions being replaced with a special, shootout-like, timed session for a cash prize.

McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh, who heads the sporting working group of FOTA, told autosport.com that discussions had already taken place about changing the structure of Fridays.

"We are looking at the whole format of a race weekend," he explained. "At the moment we formulated a Friday testing format, but in reality no one is doing the normal disciplined testing. We are preparing for the race (instead).

"If you give a race team the chance to go on the race track where they are going to race at on the Sunday on the Friday before, then we must have been nuts to think that we will be doing engineering testing. So we are all as bad as one another.

"So we say, is this good value? Does it help the show? Or do you perhaps do something where you say, let's cut it down to 45 minutes only, maybe you give a completely different specification of tyres, a really hard tyre, and you create a mini competition where everyone tries to set the fastest time and you give a million dollars to the winning driver?

"It means there would be something to write about and it introduces the weekend. It is separate from the race. So there are all those sort of ideas about.

"The good thing is that people now realise that we do have to do something and I think (we are having) quite a creative open discussion. And I hope over Japan and Shanghai that we will reach some conclusions.

"We then have to make recommendations to FOTA and that has to then go through the FIA, but hopefully we can do that."

Shootouts sound interesting... but seems a little too gimmicky :mellow:

Sour grapes :thumbdown:
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo says it is 'humiliating' for Formula One that the safety car is needed to spice up the show.

And despite the widespread praise the Singapore Grand Prix received, the Italian was also critical of the Asian street circuit, which hosted Formula One's first night race.

"Unfortunately when we race on tracks where staging a circus or something else would be better, anything can happen, because the spectacle is supplied by the Safety Car," di Montezemolo was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

"This is humiliating for F1.

"I want to talk about this with all the other teams in the upcoming weeks."

Di Montezemolo had already said ahead of the race weekend that he believed street circuits such as Singapore or Valencia were bad for the sport.

"I have the impression it will be another one of those letdowns where you cannot overtake, like Valencia," he said last week. "Going forward with these circuits heralds a bad future for Formula One."

Sunday's race, which has been pretty much uneventful until then, was turned upside down thanks to a safety car period that helped Renault driver Fernando Alonso become the seventh different winner this season against all odds.

The race was a disaster for Ferrari, who failed to score any points for the first time since 2006. The team also lost the lead in the constructors' championship while Felipe Massa dropped seven points behind Lewis Hamilton.

Di Montezemolo says, however, that he is convinced Ferrari can bounce back.

"It was a bitter day, but there are three races yet and I have faith in all Ferrari's men, who have always demonstrated they're able to fight to the last metre in every circumstance," di Montezemolo added. "We saw that last year in the final race in Brazil.

"The car is the best, Massa is the best, and I expect Raikkonen to show in these last three races to be the world champion.

"Ferrari went through times much more difficult than this. We saw throughout the weekend that our car was the best and that Massa did an extraordinary qualifying, demonstrating to be be the driver in the best shape.

"I expect Massa and Raikkonen to always finish first and second in the three remaining races. In any case, ahead of McLaren."

Di Montezemolo also said it was "obvious" that Kimi Raikkonen would have to play a supporting role to Massa now.

"That's obvious, every driver knows he races for the team," he added.

"We have extraordinary mechanics who may make mistakes once in a while. Obviously the one that did is the most displeased one now, but he deserves us to stay close to him just like to everyone else, because at other times they turned the result around.

"We are the world champions, we are still able to win. Let's see if we don't do it with these exceptional people. You'll see a great reaction at the next race already."

[Mattk]

Di Montezemolo had already said ahead of the race weekend that he believed street circuits such as Singapore or Valencia were bad for the sport.

"I have the impression it will be another one of those letdowns where you cannot overtake, like Valencia," he said last week. "Going forward with these circuits heralds a bad future for Formula One."
Interesting that he doesn't mention scrapping the Monaco street race.

[SHIZL]

The 2009 Formula One season could see a lot more passing manoeuvres thanks to a unique collaboration between three of the sport’s leading teams. Backed by the FIA, top design engineers from Ferrari, McLaren and Renault worked together to help frame changes to the aerodynamic regulations that should make overtaking far less of a rarity.

Under current regulations, a driver typically needs to be as much as two seconds a lap faster than the car in front to have a realistic chance of passing. That should be cut to around a second next year thanks to a host of bodywork changes, including wider front wings that can be adjusted by the driver from the cockpit - a Formula One first.

Instigated by the FIA at the beginning of 2007, the Overtaking Working Group (OWG) - comprising Ferrari’s Rory Byrne, McLaren’s Paddy Lowe and Renault’s Pat Symonds - used McLaren’s advanced Formula One simulator to evaluate overtaking at Turn 1 of the old Barcelona circuit. Having established the existing ‘two seconds per lap’ requirement, they set about cutting that in half through aerodynamic changes.

They quickly learned that previous FIA proposals aimed at increasing overtaking, in particular the planned Centreline Downwash Generating (CDG) rear wing, had some major flaws. Utilising a conventional wind tunnel rather than computer-based Computational Fluid Dynamics, they instead came up with a series of new measures which should guarantee the desired effect.

The most obvious changes to the cars will be a taller and narrower rear wing, a shorter rear diffuser, and the loss of bodywork appendages such as deflectors, winglets and chimneys. Perhaps the most interesting revision, however, is to the front wing, which will become much wider. It will also be Formula One racing’s first (legal) moveable aerodynamic device, with the driver able to fine tune its settings from the cockpit.

“The flap will be controlled and monitored by the standard ECU,” explains OWG member Paddy Lowe. “The software in this unit is FIA-controlled, so it will only allow two adjustments per lap. The number of settings available to the driver will be up to the team, but the maximum flap angle range is +/- 3 degrees (i.e. 6 degrees total), so probably a team might provide one-degree steps.”

Having achieved their target of the ‘one second per lap’ requirement, it remains to be seen how the OWG’s measures will perform during an actual Grand Prix. Have they got the balance right? After all, many will rightly argue that overtaking in Formula One - the world’s premier motorsport series - should be difficult.

“In my view the reduction from two seconds to one is a very big and important step,” says Lowe. “We may indeed find that this is sufficient. Clearly a zero second per lap differential is nonsensical, so it is not as though we only made half the necessary progress! I also do not believe we want to make overtaking trivial if your car is at all faster - i.e. if we reduced that same number to 0.2sec/lap, say, then it would almost guarantee that any faster car could overtake any slower car without delay - a really quite boring prospect.”

It’s clear the changes should make for even more exciting racing, but that doesn’t mean they will make life any easier for the drivers. They already have a myriad of controls to deal with from the cockpit and next year will see the addition of not only adjustable wings but also KERS, the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (which could also boost overtaking).

As Lowe succinctly puts it, “Switch 'real estate' on the steering wheel is becoming as difficult to find as it is in the cockpit of a 747!”
wow moveable wing ive always wondered why it has taking so long to get this in order.

[styla21]

BMW Sauber confirmed on Monday that current line-up, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, will continue to race for the team next season. With continuity being BMW Sauber’s watchword for 2009, third driver Christian Klien will stay on too.

"We see Nick and Robert as a strong driver pairing and Christian as an experienced test driver,” explained BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen. “We are in no doubt that we will again achieve our ambitious aims with them in the team's fourth year."

So far this season, Kubica and Heidfeld have scored 120 world championship points for the team. The Pole clinched the outfit’s maiden Formula One victory at June’s Canadian Grand Prix, while Heidfeld has scored four second-place finishes to date in 2008.

The German joined the team from Williams in 2006 for BMW’s first season as a works squad. Kubica made his Formula One test debut that year too and was subsequently promoted to a race seat, alongside Heidfeld, for the final six rounds of the ’06 season, after replacing Jacques Villeneuve. - F1.com

[styla21]

Bernie Ecclestone has hit back at Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo's description of the Singapore Grand Prix as a 'circus' - by joking that Ferrari's pit stop disaster made the team look like 'clowns'.
Di Montezemolo has recently been heavily critical of Formula 1's new street circuits, and described the Singapore night race as a "humiliation" for the sport, mainly because the safety car had a large influence on the result.
Ferrari looked set to dominate at Marina Bay until the first stops, when Felipe Massa was given clearance to pull away before his stop was complete and ripped the fuel hose from the rig, while Kimi Raikkonen was delayed waiting behind his team-mate.
The incident led to bizarre scenes as Massa's car drove to the pit exit with the hose still hanging from it, and the Ferrari mechanics sprinted the length of the pits to remove it.

"If the Ferrari president is right about the Singapore Grand Prix being a circus, then we have to be grateful to him for providing the clowns," Ecclestone told the Mail on Sunday.
"After the weekend Ferrari had, their president should have shut up and kept his head down.
"If Massa loses the world championship, he will know the team were responsible.
"He would have destroyed everybody in Singapore if he had kept going."
Ferrari was using its unique traffic light pit system in Singapore, although on this occasion it was manually triggered by a mechanic rather than operating automatically when the fuel hose was removed.
Ecclestone questioned the benefit of the device.
"If it's a matter of turning a switch, which I am led to believe is how it works, then why not stick with the 'lollipop' man of old?" he said.
"Why do you want to have some other piece of technology that can go wrong?
"It's over the top."
With Massa failing to get back into the points and Raikkonen eventually crashing out, Ferrari failed to score in Singapore and now trails McLaren in both championships.

[blue8]

"If the Ferrari president is right about the Singapore Grand Prix being a circus, then we have to be grateful to him for providing the clowns," Ecclestone told the Mail on Sunday.
"After the weekend Ferrari had, their president should have shut up and kept his head down.

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

Good to hear that BMW are keeping their line-up for next year! I think both drivers have done quite well in the last 3 years

Ferrari, for the last 3 races at least, will revert back to the lollipop man:
The Times reveals: "In an acknowledgement that all is not quite as it should be just now, the team has decided to go back to the lollipop for the three remaining races of this season.

However, they will again switch back to automated system when the 2009 season gets underway in Australia, and they also claim several other teams could follow their example.

"Ferrari are keeping their pit lane traffic lights system despite the dramas they have experienced recently. Several of their rivals are now researching their own version of the lights. They also say that they have heard nothing from the FIA on the subject and there has been no move to have the system banned on safety grounds."

[silentm]

"Why do you want to have some other piece of technology that can go wrong?
"It's over the top." what a fuckin hypocrite... does he know about KERS? O.o

[blue8]

2009 F1 Calendar: Canadian GP is dropped, no more North American grands prix
The FIA issued on Tuesday the World Motor Sport Council's decision, with the Montreal race absent for the first time since 1987.

The governing body confirmed an 18-race calendar, including a summer break thanks to having moved the Turkish Grand Prix from August to June.

The WMSC also agreed to give FIA president Max Mosley the authority to deal with the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) for the introduction of "radical measures to achieve a substantial reduction of costs in the championship from 2010."

"Failing agreement with FOTA, the FIA will enforce the necessary measures to achieve this goal," said the FIA in a statement.

"It was further unanimously agreed to allow Formula One teams to equalise engine performance across the field for 2009, pending the introduction of cost-saving measures from 2010," it added.

2009 F1 calendar:

Australia 29 March
Malaysia 5 April
Bahrain 19 April
Spain 10 May
Monaco 24 May
Turkey 7 June
Great Britain 21 June
France 28 June
Germany 12 July
Hungary 26 July
Europe (Valencia) 23 August
Belgium 30 August
Italy 13 September
Singapore 27 September
Japan 11 October
China 18 October
Brazil 1 November
Abu Dhabi 15 November


It's terrible that Canada has been dropped because usually races there are very interesting.
"Equalizing engine performance"?!?! :bad:

[Alelanza]

Darn it! i'll really miss the wall of champions....

[5vz-fe]

Damn...no more Canadian GP :(

[Parricida]

very sad about losing Canadian grand prix.. It has been one of my favorites for years...

[styla21]

A bit of Max Mosley rhetoric.. :-):thumbdown:


Formula One will only survive for one more year unless drastic spending cuts are implemented, FIA president Max Mosley has warned.
Mosley, who is to stand down next year, said the sport's future was under threat because of the rising costs of running a team, highlighting the fate of the Super Aguri team.
The Japanese outfit dropped out of the championship after the Spanish Grand Prix due to a lack of funds - and Mosley fears at least two more teams may also have to withdraw from the championship.
"I think it would put the sport in an unsustainable position if we lost two more teams," Mosley told BBC Sport.
"At the moment we have 20 cars competing and if we lost two teams we'd have 16 and then it would cease to be a credible grid.
"Some of the manufacturers are already having difficulty if you look at their share prices."
Mosley insisted the sport could not afford to survive on billionaires' handouts and must become more cost-effective if it is to survive - regardless of the current financial climate.
"This hasn't been prompted by the credit crunch. This is something I have been campaigning for two or three years.
"It had become apparent long before the present economic difficulties that Formula One is unsustainable.
"If we can't get this sorted out by 2010 we will be in serious difficulty.
"We can survive through 2009, but I'm not too sure about after."
He added: "You cannot run a business like that when the outgoings are two to three times more than what's coming in. It now depends on billionaires subsidising teams."
Mosley said simple cost-cutting measures would help the sport survive, even with the enormous financial clout that Ferrari, McLaren and BMW are able to wield over their competitors.
"There are various things we can do. The most obvious one would be to reduce the cost of the car," he said.
"The engine and gearbox costs about STG25 million ($A61.43 million) a year and that could be done for probably five per cent of that cost without anyone in the grandstand noticing at all.
"We have various means of making sure the big spenders don't spend so much, but that would mean some draconian measures."

[styla21]

FIA release statement on cost control

Following a meeting in Paris on Tuesday, the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) issued the following statement:

“The WMSC unanimously agreed to give the FIA President authority to negotiate with the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) the introduction of radical measures to achieve a substantial reduction of costs in the championship from 2010.

“Failing agreement with FOTA, the FIA will enforce the necessary measures to achieve this goal.

“It was further unanimously agreed to allow Formula One teams to equalise engine performance across the field for 2009, pending the introduction of cost-saving measures from 2010.” -f1.com


(I don't know about you guys, but engine equalisation is a horrible idea imo. Might as well watch the A1 championship.)

[styla21]

His championship hopes may be all but over, but Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen does have something to celebrate - clinching the DHL Fastest Lap Award for the second consecutive year.

With three races still to run, Raikkonen has already racked up an unbeatable 10 fastest laps this year, his most recent in Singapore. With no other driver having recorded more than two, Raikkonen will collect the highly-coveted DHL Fastest Lap Award trophy following next month’s season finale in Brazil.

On top of that, just one more fastest lap in 2008 will see Raikkonen break Michael Schumacher’s record of 10 fastest laps in a season, set by the German during his dominant 2004 campaign with Ferrari. -f1.com

[Juho]

On one note, as long as we don't lose SPA, the sport won't die.
On another, what is up with Kimi and barely ever finding the correct setup for the cars?
He is amazing when he gets the setups and the feel right, but he sucks without it.
(BTW I'm from finland aka love kimi)

[Mattk]

"If it's a matter of turning a switch, which I am led to believe is how it works, then why not stick with the 'lollipop' man of old?" he said.
Because logically, it saves time as it cuts out the process of the fuelling mechanic signalling the lollipop man and the lollipop man responding. Duh... No wonder Ecclestone was never all that successful.

I agree with you about engine equalisation. Formula One is about developing the ultimate in motor vehicle technology. If you want lots of action and cars crashing into each other, A1 is great. So are a lot of other series. Formula One is about a whole lot more.

[styla21]

Manufacturers oppose single engine - F1.com

Formula 1's manufacturer teams say they would reject any moves towards standard engines, but would be open to more restrictive engine regulations if necessary.
Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley have both hinted that switching to a single F1 engine - which manufacturers could still put their individual badge on even though the units would be technically identical - could be the solution to the sport's spiralling costs.
But Toyota team president John Howett believes this suggestion is politically motivated, and would be contrary to F1's spirit.
"I could say controversially that the negotiating stance historically in Formula 1 has been to put an extreme proposal on the table and then that encourages the teams to move in a direction, so we may just be, at the moment, purely in a negotiating tactic," said Howett.

"I think that the teams have a lot of ideas to actually save money but at the same time not destroy the core DNA or value of Formula 1.
"Hopefully for once we can put politics behind these discussions and really focus on the facts, the real issues and then we will find, I am sure, good solutions.
"I think that the danger is that a knee-jerk reaction could be catastrophic.
"I think a lot of the manufacturers are concerned about having a spec engine, because one of the core interests is at least having some differentiation in the power unit."
Honda's Nick Fry agreed with this stance, and reckoned that the manufacturers could come up with suitable proposals while protecting F1's technical integrity.
"I think certainly from the Honda side and I suspect from some of the other manufacturers' sides we would like to preserve the ability to design and make that engine as it is part of our brand identity," he said.

"But making the specification a lot more prescriptive, making it a lot cheaper, is something I think that many of us would support.
"In our case we are the largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines in the world, it's the core of the company.

"But on the other hand, a specification engine or a prescriptive engine, where the design was very, very tight, the materials were very tightly controlled, but we had the ability to put our brand identity on it in that we were designing it, we were making the thing, then that's a very different proposition and I think you would be able to reduce the costs very significantly by doing that.
"So I think the end result may not be massively different but the thinking behind it is very, very different."
Mosley will meet with the newly-formed Formula One Teams' Association following the Chinese Grand Prix to discuss cost-cutting plans.
The FIA has already announced that if FOTA cannot come up with suitable proposals, it will impose its own regulations to reduce expenditure.
But Mario Theissen - whose BMW Sauber team also opposes standard engines - is optimistic about FOTA's progress.
"In my view the ongoing discussions under the umbrella of FOTA are the most constructive I have seen in Formula 1 because it is clear to all of the teams that we have to do something, we have to achieve something and it only works if we come to a joint proposal," he said.
"I am sure within a few weeks or months we will be able to come up with proposals which will really make a difference to what we see today in terms of costs, in terms of improving the spectacle and the commercial viability of Formula 1."

[gobs3z]

The French GP is canceled for 2009 (for now)

When the FIA released the 2009 Formula 1 calendar, the only notorious absence was the Canadian Grand Prix (http://www.motorauthority.com/french-grand-prix-canceled-as-french-motorsports-federation-drops-backing.html#). Now, financial circumstances have forced the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile (http://www.motorauthority.com/french-grand-prix-canceled-as-french-motorsports-federation-drops-backing.html#)(FFSA) to issue a statement dropping its support for and sponsorship of the 2009 French Grand Prix, effectively canceling the event.

The unfortunate result follows an earlier commitment from France itself to preserve the French Grand Prix, whether at Magny Cours or Paris. While the loss of the historic organizer of the event means the 2009 race has no expectation of remaining on the calendar, it is possible - in theory, at least - that other forces and agencies within France could step up and keep the race going.

In 2008 the French Grand Prix had nearly been marked off the calendar as Bernie Ecclestone criticized the French government's laissez-faire attitude toward preserving the event at Magny Cours. FIA officials, including Eccelstone, had wanted to move the race to a more metropolitan area like Paris[/URL], because the remote Magny Cours venue cut significantly into the experience of the Grand Prix.

This latest development could be all Ecclestone and crew need to finally get the event in a more modern, central location, though that would necessitate finding the financial and organizational backing to plan and oversee the Grand Prix, which is no small feat.

The cessation of the French Grand Prix is also historically significant to the sport itself, as it is the oldest surviving [URL="http://www.motorauthority.com/french-grand-prix-canceled-as-french-motorsports-federation-drops-backing.html#"]motor (http://www.motorauthority.com/french-gp-likely-to-move-to-paris-for-2009.html) race, having been run since 1906, according to GrandPrix. It was also the first international event to garner the title "Grand Prix," itself a French phrase.http://www.motorauthority.com/french-grand-prix-canceled-as-french-motorsports-federation-drops-backing.html

[HeilSvenska]

Yeah....... That's why I stopped watching F1 for many years now.

[inohm20]

Gawwwwd single engines...ya, it might be 'formula' 1, but very soon it'll be one make racing!

Seriously, though it takes major skill to pilot these beasts, people aren't just interested in the driving! They keep saying affordable this, affordable that, but very few people/companies have $100mil to blow on a team just to have 2 cars that start and can run 19 races in 1 year. With 4 competitive teams out of 10, the other 6 are effectively just spending their money. Sure, they get data and R&D out of it, and some lucky wins, but that's it.

The whole situation is just broken. Toyota and Honda will never, ever, catch Ferrari or McLaren they way they are going, even though both companies have the financial resources to outspend both those teams. However, since money is the only resource they do have, they just keep plowing through it, forcing the average cost of racing up.

The whole formula 1 concept is such an ultrafine balance, like magic. Ferrari used to be the worst team on the planet, but along with Schumacher they have built a winning formula, and over many years. Renault managed to have a car and driver that could go toe-to-toe with and beat Ferrari, but now look, it's taken them the best part of 2 years to get things going again, and still, Alonso has yet to qualify p1 and then summarily beat everyone.

Next year things are being reset, new designs will be raced and hopefully we'll see Toyota and Honda kicking ass, because I think those teams are the ones that need to be worried about.

[Mattk]

Sad to see Magny Cours go, and this time, it isn't even Ecclestone's fault.

[styla21]

Sad to see Magny Cours go, and this time, it isn't even Ecclestone's fault.
I'm not that caught up on it... An improved Magny Cours, or a Paris street race will kick ass. How they contend with cobblestone I have no idea:-P.

[styla21]

Geneva meeting produces ‘significant cost savings’ for 2009/10

After their meeting in Geneva on Tuesday, Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, and the organisation formed by the teams, FOTA, have released the following joint statement:

“Today’s meeting in Geneva has produced significant cost savings for 2009 and 2010.

"FOTA are working urgently on further proposals for 2010 and thereafter.”

[styla21]

McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh is confident Lewis Hamilton’s bid to become world champion at Interlagos will not be derailed by unreliability, despite the Briton using the same engine as he did in Shanghai.

Although McLaren has not had to use its one permitted penalty-free engine change on Hamilton’s car this season, the 'joker' rule does not apply at the final round meaning the points leader would be hit with a potentially disastrous 10-place grid drop if his power plant needed to be switched before the race.

Main title rival Felipe Massa, meanwhile, along with Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, will start the title-deciding weekend with fresh V8s apiece.
While Hamilton’s McLaren has yet to break down in any of his 34-race starts, his championship challenge crumbled at the Brazilian finale last year when his car suffered a temporary gearbox glitch.

Whitmarsh acknowledges reliability could again make-or-break its hopes, but says it was already taking precautionary measures last weekend.
"Of course, we are keenly aware that the world championship could be won or lost by a mechanical failure,” he said in his regular race debrief.http://sam.itv.com/IMPCNT/ccid=14510/acc_random=9634779807/SITE=ITV/AREA=SPORT.FORMULA1.NEWS/POSITION=1/AAMSZ=300x250/RS=/SEG=SPORT.FORMULA1/pageid=4691642967
http://sam.itv.com/accipiter/nserver/SITE=ITV/AREA=SPORT.FORMULA1.NEWS/POSITION=1/AAMSZ=300x250/pageid=1 (http://sam.itv.com/accipiter/adclick/SITE=ITV/AREA=SPORT.FORMULA1.NEWS/POSITION=1/AAMSZ=300x250/pageid=1)
“As a result, we are leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to minimise this possibility. “For example, that meant consciously turning down Lewis’s engine on the run to the flag in China in order to give him plenty of engine life for Brazil."
McLaren has generally enjoyed better levels of reliability in comparison to chief rival Ferrari over the past two campaigns, but gremlins – including an engine blow-up – have struck Heikki Kovalainen’s car in three of the past five races.

But asked if he thought engine trouble could strike Hamilton’s MP4-23 in Brazil, Whitmarsh said: “We don’t foresee this [an engine change] being an issue.
“Lewis’s engine will be on its second race in Sao Paulo while Heikki will use a brand new V8, so we can balance the two approaches to engine life.
“In terms of gearbox life, Lewis’s will be on race three while Heikki will start the weekend with a new ’box – but the level of reliability inherent in the gearbox means we anticipate fewer problems in this area."

Hamilton’s dominant victory in China last week moved the Briton to the brink of the world crown, with him just requiring a fifth place finish to see off Massa’s challenge.
Whitmarsh says McLaren will naturally not take any undue risks with Hamilton’s race as it chases its first world title in nine years, but at the same time must approach the weekend with ambitions of overhauling Ferrari’s 11-point lead in the constructors’ championship.

"Clearly, we can afford to be more conservative than normal in our approach to Lewis’s race, but we are still pushing to win the constructors’ championship and it would be wrong of us as a team to overlook this fact,” he said.
“There are 18 points available in Brazil and there’s no reason why we can’t take forward the pace and form we showed in China to achieve a one-two in Brazil.
"As a result, we do have a number of minor aerodynamic upgrades in the pipeline that we are evaluating for inclusion on our Brazil-spec car. A
“As with every race this season, we have brought something to the car - even if it has only been generating a few extra hundredths’ of lap time – and it would be wrong of us to close down that option for Interlagos." - itv-f1.com

[styla21]

FIA and FOTA reach landmark agreement

http://www.autosport.com/images/upload/1224608164.jpg
A plan to make dramatic cost-cuts was agreed between the FIA and the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) in a landmark meeting in Geneva, it was announced in a joint statement on Tuesday.

It is believed that a broad agreement was reached between FIA president Max Mosley and FOTA chiefs Luca di Montezemolo and John Howett to introduce drastic cost reductions from next year.
The joint statement read: "Today's meeting in Geneva has produced significant cost savings for 2009 and 2010.
"FOTA are working urgently on further proposals for 2010 and thereafter."
But while the statement did not detail any specific measures, autosport.com understands that four key points were agreed:

- Engine life will be increased from two to three races from 2009

- Manufacturers must be prepared to make 25 engine units available, at a cost of 10 million Euros, to customer teams

- There will be a further meeting between FOTA members in Brazil to determine testing kilometre limits for 2009, and an agreement in principal on the introduction of a standard Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) unit for 2010 or 2011. KERS is believed to remain open for teams to use next season.

- The sport's governing body and FOTA will meet again after the Brazilian Grand Prix to discuss measures to reduce costs related to chassis development and the continuation of the use of customer chassis in the future.

When asked to comment on the agreements, an FIA spokesman said it was "inappropriate to comment at this time", but described the meeting as "very positive and constructive."

One source added that the meeting had "historical" significance because it "was the first time the teams had enjoyed such unanimity" in their discussions over the sport's future direction. - autosport.com

[styla21]

Car magazine (http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Search-Results/Industry-News/Aston-Martin-and-Mercedes-to-strike-30m-deal/?content-block=0), reporting on a potential business alliance between Mercedes and Aston Martin, also reveals Mercedes future ambitions for its own F1 team:Says a senior source at Daimler: ‘Our agreement with McLaren won’t last forever [Mercedes holds a 40 percent stake in McLaren]. There will be no replacement for the SLR, and as soon as the price is right, we are interested in taking over the F1 business.’
Mercedes became McLaren’s engine supplier in 1995, and together they won three titles in 1998 and 1999. No further titles have followed, though there have been several near-misses.
The two collaborated on the Mercedes SLR McLaren supercar, but there are no future collaborations of the sort in the pipeline.
It isn’t the first time rumours have arisen suggesting Mercedes wants its own F1 team. Could it end up going the same way as its domestic rival BMW, which became frustrated in its partnership with a British F1 team (Williams) and instead took over another F1 outfit (Sauber)?
Mercedes’ links with McLaren run far longer and deeper than BMW’s did with Williams, and the team may deliver its first title in nine years next week. But you can never take it for granted in F1 that things will remain the same forever.

[blue8]

McLaren to introduce new rear wing for Brazil GP
McLaren are to introduce a new rear wing and a raft of other aerodynamic tweaks for the Brazilian Grand Prix as part of their bid to win the championship, autosport.com can reveal. Although the Woking-based outfit can afford to take a conservative approach to the season finale in Interlagos, with Lewis Hamilton only needing fifth place to guarantee himself the crown, the team have not eased off in their efforts to eek out more performance from their MP4-23.
It is understood that that work has resulted in the team feeling positive enough about a number of changes to the car's aerodynamic package for them to be introduced for the race at Interlagos.
Although the most visible difference will be with the new rear wing, it is believed that there will also be at least six other areas on the car where the team have targeted a step forward in pace.
McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh said in the aftermath of the Chinese Grand Prix that the team had worked hard on the elements that have now been approved for use.
"We have put the effort into primarily an aerodynamic package to enhance the efficiency of the car," he said.
McLaren have made it clear since Shanghai that despite the title situation they are continuing their preparations for Brazil as normally as they could.
Team boss Ron Dennis said: "It's clearly not done, but most likely it's only unreliability that's going to cause us a problem. So we're going to be cautious about tyres, rain, and all sorts of things.
"But there's nothing to be achieved before Friday in planning for the what ifs. All the work we normally do will be done and we will arrive on Friday morning ready to go and we'll adapt to whatever gets thrown at us."


I'm quite surprised if they actually push through with this as it is a risk. I do hope though that it turns out bad so Hamilton won't win the championship :mrgreen: But I still really want an exciting race to cap-off the season which has been quite great.

[blue8]

Ferrari threatens to quit F1 if engines are standardized!
Ferrari have issued a bombshell warning that they will reconsider their participation in Formula One if the FIA presses ahead with the introduction of a standard engine.

On a day when the FIA confirmed it was still pushing on with its plans to introduce standard engines in F1, Ferrari became the second team to publicly threaten to withdraw from the sport if the concept goes ahead.

In a statement issued following a board meeting at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters, the team made it clear that it did not believe the move to standard powerplants was right for F1.

"Whilst reiterating its wholehearted commitment to a substantial and needed reduction in costs in Formula 1, starting with propulsion, the Ferrari Board of Directors expressed strong concerns regarding plans to standardise engines as it felt that such a move would detract from the entire raison of a sport with which Ferrari has been involved continuously since 1950, a raison d'etre based principally on competition and technological development," said the statement.

"The Board of Directors expressed the opinion that should these key elements be diminished, it would have to re-evaluate, with its partners the viability of continuing its presence in the sport."

Ferrari's statement came less than an hour after Toyota team president John Howett told autosport.com that the Japanese manufacturer would almost certainly be out of F1 if the standard engine idea went ahead. Howett also suggested that other manufacturers would follow suit.

""I think you will see manufacturers potentially leaving F1 if there is a standard engine," Howett told autosport.com. "I don't think any of the manufacturers want a homogenized engine. I think the outcome depends partially on the FIA and the World Motor Sport Council, and whether they have a mind to press through with the idea."

The FIA has already opened the tender for the supply of standard engines from 2010 to 2012, with the governing body claiming several 'interested parties' had expressed an interest in applying for the deal.

Although it has widely been talked about that manufacturers would withdraw from F1 if the standard engine idea went through, Ferrari's decision to go public with their quit threat is a major development - as the Italian manufacturer have previously shied away from such dramatic statements.

It comes with Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo heading the Formula One Teams' Association's (FOTA) effort to coordinate with the FIA a package of rules changes.F1 cannot lose Ferrari!

[Mattk]

^Yes, they cannot. In fact, they can't lose any of these big, wealthy, factory-backed teams. This engine standardisation rubbish probably won't go through.

[5vz-fe]

They may as well standardize the car if the would like to standardize the engine.

[Mattk]

They have that already. It's called A1GP. Formula One will ever be like that, because it just isn't. To standardise anything important is to betray the historical origins of Formula One, and motorsports in principle.

[styla21]

That is a rubbish article. The FOM meeting resolved that no-standardisation will occur. This is now just sensationalism. :)

[styla21]

Felipe Massa has dismissed suggestions he could consider resorting to dirty tricks in a bid to beat Lewis Hamilton to the world championship in Brazil on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver, who heads into the title showdown seven points adrift of his McLaren rival, was responding to comments made by former team boss Eddie Jordan over the weekend where the Irishman said Hamilton may face an attack from Massa and should be prepared to retaliate.

Jordan’s comments, however, have not been received well by Massa, who insists he will concentrate on his own performance and has no intention of winning the world title by foul play.
"Playing dirty has never been part of my game," Massa is quoted as saying by the Press Association.
http://sam.itv.com/accipiter/nserver/SITE=ITV/AREA=SPORT.FORMULA1.NEWS/POSITION=1/AAMSZ=300x250/pageid=1 (http://sam.itv.com/accipiter/adclick/SITE=ITV/AREA=SPORT.FORMULA1.NEWS/POSITION=1/AAMSZ=300x250/pageid=1)
"I don't want anything to do with it. The only thing on my mind is winning the race. “The rest does not depend on me.
"If I'm champion, it will be a dream come true. If not, that's okay. I will try again next year."

He also took a dig at the former owner of the Jordan team, saying: "Since he sold his team, Eddie Jordan has had nothing to do with F1 except for what he says in the press!"
Massa, involved in his first championship showdown, will attempt to overturn Hamilton’s points advantage in front of a passionate home Interlagos crowd desperate to see a Brazilian world champion for the first time since Ayrton Senna in 1991.
Hamilton has said the home crowd factor means that Massa goes into the decider under the most pressure.
But Massa has cranked up the mind games between the pair again by insisting he has nothing to lose, while Hamilton has the memories of his failed title bid last year hanging over him.

"Lewis will try and put pressure on me, but I have zero pressure because I have nothing to lose," he said.
"I have my people behind me, and all the pressure will be on him, especially when you think of what happened at this race last year.
"I now can't wait for this final Sunday of the season."

[mts6800]

With his last career race this weekend it would be nice to see DC on the podium.

I think he has certainly been an asset to the sport over the last 15 years. Well done DC.

from: http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2008/10/8602.html
Of all the drivers not to have won the world championship, Red Bull’s David Coulthard has scored the most points - a total of 535 to date. And although this bittersweet statistic is not what Coulthard hoped for when he embarked on his Formula One career 15 years ago, perhaps the Scot can draw some solace from it as he retires from F1 competition this weekend.

[The Stig]

Renault will announce their drivers on Wednesday.
I think Alonso will stay and Piquet go back to the driving school

[HeilSvenska]

Formula One officials are in discussions to return the category to North America, according to Honda team principal Nick Fry.

Indianapolis hosted its last US Grand Prix in 2007, and the continent has now slipped off the calendar altogether with the recent demise of the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal.

But according to the US financial news service Bloomberg, talks are ongoing to reinstate American races by 2010.

"I know that discussions are proceeding at pace on other venues in America and all the teams are extremely hopeful those come to fruition as early as possible," said Fry.

The Briton said North America is a "vital market" for the car manufacturers and many of the sponsors involved in F1.

Fry hinted that one venue has been slated near one of the biggest cities in the United States.

"Going back to Indianapolis is one option," he admitted. "But from a brand point of view, to be on the East coast in New York or somewhere on the West coast would be better."

It has also been said that the reinstatement and future of the Canadian Grand Prix would be helped by pairing it with a race in the United States.

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/081105143133.shtml

[blue8]

Renault retains Alonso (2 years) and Piquet (1 year)
Renault have confirmed an unchanged driver line-up for the 2009 season, with Fernando Alonso agreeing a two-year extension to his deal with the team.

His teammate Nelson Piquet has only been signed for one further season at present.

Team boss Flavio Briatore believes the announcement gives Renault a well-balanced driver line-up going into next year's championship.

"This gives the ING Renault F1 Team one of the most exciting driver pairings with the perfect blend of youth and experience," he said.

"Fernando's commitment for the next two seasons confirms the faith he has in the team and we are delighted to continue working with him.

"He has been a big asset throughout this difficult season and his leadership and talent, matched with the team's hard work and determination, have paid off with our recent performances, which have placed the ING Renault F1 Team back among the top competitors of Formula 1."

Alonso won two world championships with Renault before leaving for McLaren at the end of 2006, but he returned this year after failing to gel with the Woking-based squad.

Although this season began badly for Alonso and Renault, they staged a late-season resurgence that saw the Spaniard win in Singapore and Japan.

"After a difficult start to the season, we have overcome our difficulties and constantly improved our performances," said Alonso.

"My back-to-back wins in Singapore and Japan, and my recent second place podium finish in Brazil, have proved how competitive we can be.

"In the past we have won championships together, as well as going through tough moments, but we are now determined to show that we can repeat that success together in the coming seasons."

The double champion had been linked with Ferrari and BMW, and heavily courted by Honda, before agreeing his extended Renault deal.

"I have decided to stay with the ING Renault F1 team because, as I have often repeated this season, they have always been my first choice and I feel very happy and comfortable with them," Alonso said.

"It's a very close-knit team with a competitive and winning mentality, and also a relaxed and warm attitude, which suits me perfectly."

Piquet's future at Renault had been in doubt after he struggled for much of his rookie season - particularly in qualifying - but his form improved towards the end of the year, highlighted by a strong drive from 11th on the grid to fourth in Japan.

"Obviously I am delighted to have the opportunity to race for the ING Renault F1 Team for a second year," he said.

"Although I have had a tough year, I have learned a lot from my rookie season and I will aim to put that experience to good use next season. I want to thank the team for their support this year and for the trust they have shown in me for the future.

"I'm already excited about 2009 and looking forward to working with the team over the winter so that we can start next season strongly."

[blue8]

Other news:
Revised 2009 Calendar (Chinese GP is now the third round and sadly still no Canadian GP)
2009 FIA Formula One World Championship

29/3 Australia
5/4 Malaysia
19/4 China
26/4 Bahrain
10/5 Spain
24/5 Monaco
7/6 Turkey
21/6 Great Britain
12/7 Germany
26/7 Hungary
23/8 Europe (Valencia)
30/8 Belgium
13/9 Italy
27/9 Singapore
4/10 Japan
18/10 Brazil
1/11 Abu Dhabi
FIA to revise/improve steward system: :thumbup:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72011

[styla21]

The FIA confirmed on Wednesday that from next season Formula One engines must last for three Grand Prix meetings. Engines were required to last for two events in 2008. The move is part of the governing body’s continuing push to drive down the costs of competing in the sport.

Rules regarding engine-change penalties are expected to remain the same, with each driver allowed one free ‘joker’ change, after which a new engine will mean a drop of 10 places on the grid.

[blue8]

No bailout for Canadian GP (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72152) :thumbdown:

Gold medals instead of points? (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72175):thumbdown::thumbdown:

[ae86_16v]

^ Seriously? Medals?!?! I hope not.

[Mattk]

^I second that. It just sounds lame and doesn't reward consistency.

[turpija]

^I second that. It just sounds lame and doesn't reward consistency.

that's the idea behind the medals, not to reward point collecting but fighting for victory, Bernie actually mentioned medals 2 months ago when he did a interview in Croatia
Bernie Ecclestone and Gold Medals rule - YouTube

[blue8]

Disturbing news:
Bernie Ecclestone has declared that his controversial medal system to decide the Formula One world drivers' champion will be introduced next year.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72254

:angry:

He says it's not official yet but it's expected to be ratified and implemented next year!

[Mattk]

When everyone is banging on about levelling the playing field, having all 20 cars compete for the gold medal will be disastrous for those teams who will never come close to winning and are separated by the number of points via consistent finishes.

[silentm]

yeah i don't get it at all. now only the top 3 will get a reward and the rest will just be told to fuck off? then drivers like heidfeld and kubica who were really consistent during the season would have absolutely nothing out of this, it's just ridiculous

[Mattk]

^Exactly. BMW will be the biggest loser in all this. Over the past two years, they've been in a great position to challenge the top two teams. Now, it will be much more difficult. The other teams may as well just not waste their money and go away. If you want to value a victory more, then simply award more points relative to minor placings.

[styla21]

I'll play devils advocate.. This part actually has some logic to it: "This year, we saw on a number of occasions Lewis not overtaking Massa for that reason," said Ecclestone. "If he'd driven for me, tried it and made a mistake, I would have complained. It's just not on that someone can win the world championship without winning a race."

[Mattk]

Yes, it would be logical if it were more true. Hamilton won five races, only one fewer than Massa. Hell, they were only separated by a single championship point. Over all those races, that's nothing. Towards the end, Hamilton eased off a bit, but he still did his fair share of winning across the season. But I think that's a localised issue. At the end of the day, this goes completely against the notion of levelling the playing field - something almost all policies have been geared towards.

[turpija]

^Exactly. BMW will be the biggest loser in all this. Over the past two years, they've been in a great position to challenge the top two teams. Now, it will be much more difficult. The other teams may as well just not waste their money and go away. If you want to value a victory more, then simply award more points relative to minor placings.

bmw's drivers(Kubica) would have been the biggest loser if this medal thing was introduced in this 2008 season, the medal idea is only applyed to driver championship not the constuctors championship.
but I think that this will only help bmw to rule the next season becouse they are belived to developed the Kers and new f1 car the most becouse of their early switch on 2009 season developments;-)

[styla21]

bmw's drivers(Kubica) would have been the biggest loser if this medal thing was introduced in this 2008 season, the medal idea is only applyed to driver championship not the constuctors championship.
but I think that this will only help bmw to rule the next season becouse they are belived to developed the Kers and new f1 car the most becouse of their early switch on 2009 season developments;-)
Agreed :thumbup:

[bluedemon]

A medal system is a good idea..... wait no it isn't, because only the top three will play any part in the actual championship. It wouldn't work at all, so lets hope that the teams will not agree to this, or we will see the end of F1. Funny thing is when you first hear of it, it almost sounds like a good idea but then you think about it for more then a second and you realize that the poor guys who come in 4-8 all the time will no longer be racing for anything. So what would be the point.

[styla21]

Bluedemon, I understand what you are saying.
I also understand the logic behind Bernie's proposal. It forces racers to RACE - not just adopt a conservative fuel strategy to come 5th to win a championship.

The idea is that there is also a tremendous rebalancing of power coming up, and the playing field is leveled. Overtaking is encouraged via use of aero-kits that facilitate proper slipstreaming, slick tyres, KERS all the other updates that you are aware of.

It's sort of backwards that at present, someone could actually win a championship, without having ever won a race. :!::detective:

[bluedemon]

Bluedemon, I understand what you are saying.
I also understand the logic behind Bernie's proposal. It forces racers to RACE - not just adopt a conservative fuel strategy to come 5th to win a championship.

The idea is that there is also a tremendous rebalancing of power coming up, and the playing field is leveled. Overtaking is encouraged via use of aero-kits that facilitate proper slipstreaming, slick tyres, KERS all the other updates that you are aware of.

It's sort of backwards that at present, someone could actually win a championship, without having ever won a race. :!::detective:


That's very true it might just make the racers take more chances when they might normally wouldn't which of course would make the race more exciting and upredicatable, the problem only comes for those cars who are not quite as fast as the rest of the field. But I defianlty see the logic behind Bernie's idea. Maybe if they put in those standard engines then this medal system will go in as well. Should be interesting to see what happens in the next year or so.

[blue8]

From Autosport:
The World Motor Sport Council met in Monaco on 12 December 2008. The following decisions were taken:

FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The following measures to reduce costs in Formula One have been agreed by the World Motor Sport Council. These proposed changes have the unanimous agreement of the Formula One teams, who have played a major role in their development. The FIA is grateful to the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) and its Chairman Luca di Montezemolo for their incisive contribution.

2009

Engine

Engine life to be doubled. Each driver will use a maximum of eight engines for the season plus four for testing (thus 20 per team).

Limit of 18,000 rpm.

No internal re-tuning. Adjustment to trumpets and injectors only.

The three-race rule voted on 5 November remains in force.

Cost of engines to independent teams will be approximately 50% of 2008 prices.

Unanimous agreement was reached on a list of proposed changes to the Renault engine for 2009; all other engines will remain unchanged. Comparative testing will not be necessary.

Testing

No in-season testing except during race weekend during scheduled practice.

Aerodynamic research

No wind tunnel exceeding 60% scale and 50 metres/sec to be used after 1 January 2009.

A formula to balance wind tunnel-based research against CFD research, if agreed between the teams, will be proposed to the FIA.

Factory activity

Factory closures for six weeks per year, to accord with local laws.

Race weekend

Manpower to be reduced by means of a number of measures, including sharing information on tyres and fuel to eliminate the need for "spotters".

Sporting spectacle

Market research is being conducted to gauge the public reaction to a number of new ideas, including possible changes to qualifying and a proposal for the substitution of medals for points for the drivers. Proposals will be submitted to the FIA when the results of the market research are known.

Note: It is estimated that these changes for 2009 will save the manufacturer teams approximately 30% of their budgets compared to 2008, while the savings for independent teams will be even greater.

2010

Power train

Engines will be available to the independent teams for less than €5 million per team per season. These will either come from an independent supplier or be supplied by the manufacturer teams backed by guarantees of continuity. If an independent supplier, the deal will be signed no later than 20 December 2008.

This same engine will continue to be used in 2011 and 2012 (thus no new engine for 2011).

Subject to confirmation of practicability, the same transmission will be used by all teams.

Chassis

A list of all elements of the chassis will be prepared and a decision taken in respect of each element as to whether or not it will remain a performance differentiator (competitive element).

Some elements which remain performance differentiators will be homologated for the season.

Some elements will remain performance differentiators, but use inexpensive materials.

Elements which are not performance differentiators will be prescriptive and be obtained or manufactured in the most economical possible way.

Race weekend

Standardised radio and telemetry systems.

Ban on tyre warmers.

Ban on mechanical purging of tyres.

Ban on refueling.

Possible reduction in race distance or duration (proposal to follow market research).

Factory activity

Further restrictions on aerodynamic research.

Ban on tyre force rigs (other than vertical force rigs).

Full analysis of factory facilities with a view to proposing further restrictions on facilities.

Longer term

The FIA and FOTA will study the possibility of an entirely new power train for 2013 based on energy efficiency (obtaining more work from less energy consumed). Rules to be framed so as to ensure that research and development of such a power train would make a real contribution to energy-efficient road transport.

An enhanced Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) system is likely to be a very significant element of an energy-efficient power train in the future. In the short term, KERS is part of the 2009 regulations, but is not compulsory. For 2010 FOTA is considering proposals for a standard KERS system. The FIA awaits proposals.

A number of further amendments were adopted for the 2009 and 2010 Sporting and Technical Regulations.

[styla21]

The futures of 2008 teammates Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil are in serious doubt.
Despite both drivers recently claiming they have solid contracts for 2009, Force India boss Vijay Mallya has admitted that the composition of the team’s next race lineup has not yet been decided.
The Indian billionaire said towards the end of last season that both Sutil, the 25-year-old German, and Italian veteran Fisichella will remain with the team in 2009.
But Mallya subsequently struck a technical deal with McLaren-Mercedes, raising speculation that the McLaren-linked drivers Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett or Paul di Resta might be drafted in.
“One McLaren test driver has already tested our car,” he told the BBC. “They bring the McLaren experience with them.
“We haven’t finalised anything on the race seat. I will discuss this issue with McLaren and take this decision at an appropriate time,” Mallya added. - F1fanatic.co.uk

[styla21]

Organisers of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim have imposed a deadline of March 31, 2009 to decide whether Formula 1 will ever return to the circuit in the country’s south-west.
“The financial package has to be in place by then or else there won’t be any more Formula 1 at the Hockenheimring,” Karl- Josef Schmidt, CEO of the company that runs the venue, told the German news agency DPA.
Schmidt has already said the track can no longer afford to sustain losses incurred by the Grand Prix, even within the current arrangement to alternate the race with the Nürburgring.
Hockenheim hosted the German Grand Prix in July, and is not scheduled to return to the calendar until mid 2010.
Schmidt said federal government support is required.
Stakeholders met in Stuttgart to discuss the situation on Thursday.

[Alelanza]

Honda's F1 outfit seems to have found a buyer :D

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12433_4708425,00.html

Honda will be present on the starting grid in 2009 after the Formula One team was rescued by the world's second richest man.
Italian newspaper La Stampa has reported that Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has ploughed his cash into the ailing firm after they announced earlier this month that they would withdraw from F1 due to the global financial crisis.
The newspaper did not name its source but claimed that Jenson Button and rookie Bruno Senna would represent the team next year, with veteran Rubens Barrichello as expected dropping out.
"The news is not official as all the details have yet to be formalised," said the paper. "But two things are certain - the team has been saved and the drivers will be Jenson Button and rookie Bruno Senna."
Honda had a disappointing year, finishing ninth in the constructors championship with just 14 points, but the announcement of their withdrawal still came as a shock.
The Japanese company first competed in F1 in 1964 with the latest of its three Grand Prix wins coming via Button's success in Hungary in 2006.
Motorsport in Japan has already been hit by the financial slowdown with Subaru and Suzuki pulling out of the world rally championship.

[styla21]

Honda's F1 outfit seems to have found a buyer :D

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12433_4708425,00.html

I love how epicly wrong the media gets potential F1 takeovers.
Carlos Slim is NOT buying Honda.

The Telmex Racing team owned by Carlos Slim has denied reports that the Mexican billionaire is set to buy Honda’s Formula 1 outfit.
Stories circulating in the South American media and in Italian newspaper La Stampa on Saturday suggested that Slim had reached agreement on a buyout deal that would see Jenson Button and GP2 star Bruno Senna drive for the team.
However, Escuderia Telmex categorically denied the reports in a statement published on its website on Sunday.
It said Slim “has not bought, nor is he negotiating to buy, the Honda Formula 1 team, and therefore all reports to this effect are without foundation and completely false.”
Honda team bosses Nick Fry and Ross Brawn are exploring a number of options in their efforts to find a buyer for the Brackley-based F1 team, which is fighting for survival following the Japanese manufacturer’s decision to pull out of the sport because of the economic crisis hitting the car industry.
While on-track activities have been cancelled and engine production has ceased, Honda has been continuing with development of its 2009 car to bolster the team’s attractiveness to prospective buyers as a ‘turn-key’ operation with full constructor facilities and a ready-to-go ’09 package.

- www.itv-f1.com (http://www.itv-f1.com)

[blue8]

2009 Entry List:
Formula One's ruling body, the FIA, has made public the official entry list for the 2009 World Championship.

The list shows no surprises, with Lewis Hamilton confirmed as using the number one on his McLaren next season.

The entry list also includes the Honda Racing team, who are still looking for a buyer in order to be on the grid when the season starts in Melbourne.

2009 entry list

1 Lewis HAMILTON (GB) VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES McLAREN MERCEDES
2 Heikki KOVALAINEN (FIN) VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES McLAREN MERCEDES

3 Kimi RAIKKONEN (FIN) SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO FERRARI
4 Felipe MASSA (BR) SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO FERRARI

5 Robert KUBICA (PL) BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM BMW SAUBER
6 Nick HEIDFELD (D) BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM BMW SAUBER

7 Fernando ALONSO (E) ING RENAULT F1 TEAM RENAULT
8 Nelson PIQUET (BR) ING RENAULT F1 TEAM RENAULT

9 Jarno TRULLI (I) PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING TOYOTA
10 Timo GLOCK (D) PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING TOYOTA

11 Sebastien BUEMI (CH) SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO STR FERRARI
12 TBA SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO STR FERRARI

14 Mark WEBBER (AUS) RED BULL RACING RBR RENAULT
15 Sebastian VETTEL (D) RED BULL RACING RBR RENAULT

16 Nico ROSBERG (D) AT&T WILLIAMS WILLIAMS TOYOTA
17 Kazuki NAKAJIMA (J) AT&T WILLIAMS WILLIAMS TOYOTA

18 TBA TBA HONDA RACING F1 TEAM HONDA *
19 TBA TBA HONDA RACING F1 TEAM HONDA *

20 Adrian SUTIL (D) FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM FORCE INDIA MERCEDES
21 Giancarlo FISICHELLA (I) FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM FORCE INDIA MERCEDES

* The Honda Motor Company announced their withdrawal from Formula One on December 5th, 2008. The Honda Racing team has not withdrawn its entry from the 2009 Formula One World Championship. The FIA understands the team is now for sale.

[Mattk]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/motorsport/americans-want-female-f1-driver/2009/02/16/1234632734601.html

A new all-American team is set to enter Formula One from next year, and reportedly want to recruit Danica Patrick and Scott Speed.

[bluedemon]

Well won't that just ruin F1, Scott Speed no issues with cause he has raced in F1 before, but Patrick??? Can't see it working out well.

[ae86_16v]

Yeah, I don't see this ending well. Unless there will be a 5+ Year commitment you won't see any results anytime soon. Even with super star drivers, the car and team will still need years of work.

I hope they have the gut to stay in it because of the steep learning curve, if not, then F1 probably isn't the best sport to enter.

[Mattk]

^Hardly super star drivers. Danica Patrick is a middling Indycar racer and Speed was once a lowly-rated F1 driver who now races NASCAR. But I agree that racecar development will take a lot of time and a lot of money. As much as Mosley's cost-cutting measures may work, factory-backing is pretty much essential to fast success, and that hasn't even worked for Toyota.

[styla21]

Tuesday, 17 February 2009 15:44

Ferrari recovered from a problem with its KERS system to record the fastest time of the Bahrain test so far with Kimi Raikkonen at the wheel on Tuesday.
Former world champion Raikkonen, making his last appearance at the two-week Sakhir test, had already completed 40 laps and a series of long runs when a glitch struck his F60’s KERS cooling circuit just before midday.

It forced the Finn out of action for three hours while the team’s mechanics fixed the problem, but he returned in mid-afternoon and soon had the test’s fastest lap in the bag with an effort of 1m32.102s.
And while the earlier KERS issue meant it couldn’t complete more than 107 laps in the continuing fine conditions, Ferrari says it did use the time to practice its procedure for emergency situations with the battery-powered system.
Raikkonen’s time edged out Jarno Trulli from the top spot, as Toyota produced its best performance of the test so far.
http://itv-images.adbureau.net/itv/accipiter/images/AE2.gifhttp://sam.itv.com/IMPCNT/ccid=20675/acc_random=7790151832/SITE=ITV/AREA=SPORT.FORMULA1.NEWS/POSITION=1/AAMSZ=300x250/RS=/SEG=SPORT.FORMULA1/pageid=7085312969
http://sam.itv.com/accipiter/nserver/SITE=ITV/AREA=SPORT.FORMULA1.NEWS/POSITION=1/AAMSZ=300x250/pageid=1 (http://sam.itv.com/accipiter/adclick/SITE=ITV/AREA=SPORT.FORMULA1.NEWS/POSITION=1/AAMSZ=300x250/pageid=1)
Again the TF109 ran without problems, with Trulli’s total of 149 laps making it 290 for this week alone, allowing the team to carry out a trouble-free assessment of set-up options and tyre and suspension work. Trulli’s time of 1m32.230s was by far the team’s fastest of the test and the second fastest overall, giving the Italian driver much encouragement as he hands over the car for the remainder of the test to Timo Glock.
"This has been a very good test for us. I've covered well over 2000km in three days and I feel happy with the car,” he said.
“It seems competitive and reliable so a start like this gives us a solid base for the season ahead.
“There is still a lot of time before the first race and there is plenty of scope for teams to make big steps between now and Melbourne.
“So we will have to keep pushing hard to keep up the momentum in the factory and at the remaining tests. Still, so far so good."
Monday’s pacesetter BMW slipped to the bottom slot on the three-car timesheet and, like Ferrari, it experienced a setback – although a more bizarre one – for Nick Heidfeld’s return to testing action.
During the morning’s the F1.09 stopped out on the circuit after a standard kill switch accidentally cut off the car’s main electronics control unit, setting off its automatic fire extinguisher and covering the car in foam.
But after repairing the electronics and cleaning up the car, Heidfeld resumed running to rack up a total of 104 laps in a best time of 1m32.585s.
The German said he wasn’t chasing fast lap times having not tested the F1.09 in such warm conditions.
“Today I drove the new BMW Sauber F1.09 in warm weather conditions for the first time, so the most important thing for me was to learn more about the general balance of the car,” Heidfeld said.
“Overall it was a good day because I tried a lot of different set-up solutions.
“I already feel happy about how the car reacts to changes.”

Testing times from Bahrain (Tuesday 17 February)
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m32.102s
2. TRULLI Toyota 1m32.230s
3. HEIDFELD BMW 1m32.585s

[blue8]

Lots of news leading up to the season opening race in Melbourne by the end of the month. There's much more but I won't even bother posting everything. I can't wait for the season to begin. I heard most of the teams have very limited testing due to the new regulations and weather issues (rain, snow, sandstorms...) in different tracks. Plus, only four teams (Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Red Bull) are expected to use KERS at Melbourne. 20 days to go...

http://www.autosport.com/images/upload/1236340750.jpg
Brawn GP saves Honda
Ross Brawn has taken control of the former Honda Racing outfit in a move that secures the survival of the tenth team in Formula One.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73577

FOTA's roadmap for the future of Formula 1
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73566
KEY PROPOSALS

Technical

2009:

* More than 100% increase in mileage per engine (eight engines per driver per season)
* Reduction in wind tunnel and CFD (computational fluid dynamics) usage
* Engine available at €8 million per team per season

2010:

* Engine available at €5 million per team per season
* Gearbox available at €1.5 million per team per season
* Standardised KERS (put out to tender, with a target price of €1-2 million per team per season)
* Target a further 50% reduction of the 2009 aerodynamic development spend
* Specified number of chassis, bodywork and aerodynamic development iterations (homologations) during the season
* Prohibition of a wide range of exotic, metallic and composite materials
* Standardised telemetry and radio systems

Sporting

2009:

* Testing reduction (50%)
* New points-scoring system (12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1), to give greater differentiation/reward to grand prix winners
* Race starting fuel loads, tyre specifications and refuelling data to be made public

2010:

* Commitment to recommend new qualifying format
* Radical new points-scoring opportunities (eg, one constructors' championship point to be awarded for the fastest race pit stop)
* Further testing reductions (four four-day single-car pre-season tests plus one single-car pre-season shakedown)
* Reduction of grand prix duration (250km or a maximum of one hour 40 minutes) pending the approval of the commercial rights holder

Commercial

2009:

* Increased data provision for media
* Explore means by which the presentation of Formula One action can be more informatively and dynamically presented, common to other sports such as tennis and cricket, to dramatically improve engagement with the public
* Nominated senior team spokesman available for TV during grand prix
* Commitment to enhance consumer experience via team and FOTA websites
* Mandatory driver autograph sessions during grand prix weekends

2010:

* Commitment to enhance consumer experience via TV coverage

[blue8]

BREAKING NEWS!
Driver with the most wins becomes world champion
Point-system officially revised for the 2009 season

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has approved a change to the points systems for this year’s drivers’ championship, which will see the title awarded to the driver with the most race wins. The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system.

If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the existing 10, 8, 6 etc. structure. The constructors’ championship is unaffected.

The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council accepted the proposal for the new system from Formula One Management at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday. An alternative proposal to change the points awarded to drivers finishing in first, second and third place to 12, 9 and 7 points respectively was rejected.

Roughly 9 days to go before the new season!!!

[Mattk]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I reckon this system is a bad one. Sure, it might make for better racing, but things will probably stay the same. Furthermore, it fails to look at the championship in a holistic manner. Formula One is not just about drivers. It is about the equipment as well. The points system most adequately balances interpersonal rivalry and competition between manufacturers.

[Alelanza]

It should be interesting to watch, but i doubt it'll change anything. Last year i don't recall anyone 'settling' for 2nd place (KR vs LH at Spa anyone?). I do recall people settling for lower places, but first place thirst is not to be doubted. If anything, the old WDC system gave us the best season finale ever.

[mts6800]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I reckon this system is a bad one. Sure, it might make for better racing, but things will probably stay the same. Furthermore, it fails to look at the championship in a holistic manner. Formula One is not just about drivers. It is about the equipment as well. The points system most adequately balances interpersonal rivalry and competition between manufacturers.

Last year it certainly could have made for better racing. In Brazil LH would not have started the race knowing that 5th place would have won the drivers championship. LH would have known that if FM won he would lose.

As far as balancing the system between the drivers and constructors chamionship I don't know that can ever be done. The constructors get points for 2 cars so the constructor with 2 top drivers has an advantage over another that has 1 top driver and one midfield driver. IMO it played out exactly that way last year with Ferrari taking the constructor title and LH with McLaren taking the driver title.

It should be interesting to watch, but i doubt it'll change anything. Last year i don't recall anyone 'settling' for 2nd place (KR vs LH at Spa anyone?). I do recall people settling for lower places, but first place thirst is not to be doubted. If anything, the old WDC system gave us the best season finale ever.

Hard to understand your doubts. Last year it WOULD have changed everything. FM won more races than LH. But then again maybe the incentive of the new system would have spurred LH to win more than FM. That's the point of the new system.

At Spa last year KR faced a do or die situation. At Brazil LH hardly faced a do or die situation.

I have had mixed feelings about the new system but the more I think about it the more I like it. The constructors title stays the same and drivers get the same points so from a sponsor issue a team can show how they compared to the rest. Driver's points scores can be compared to the rest, it's just that to be world champion you have to win more races than anyone else.

[Alelanza]

Hard to understand your doubts. Last year it WOULD have changed everything. FM won more races than LH. But then again maybe the incentive of the new system would have spurred LH to win more than FM. That's the point of the new system.

At Spa last year KR faced a do or die situation. At Brazil LH hardly faced a do or die situation.

I have had mixed feelings about the new system but the more I think about it the more I like it. The constructors title stays the same and drivers get the same points so from a sponsor issue a team can show how they compared to the rest. Driver's points scores can be compared to the rest, it's just that to be world champion you have to win more races than anyone else.

Well you said it yourself. Saying it would have changed everything is thinking in 'time machine' modewhere the actors wouldn't have a chance to adjust their strategy to different rules, but assuming they had known about the ground rules, believe me their strategies would have been different. Do you think McLaren would have still forfeitted their joker engine and reach [edit] Interlagos [edit] on a 2 race engine/3 race gearbox? And as we now know, that last race wouldn't have had that 'lap of the century' as it did in the closing stages.
In fact i said it would be interesting to watch, but now i've thought more about it and I hate the idea. If you combine it with the new engine usage rules, you could have a team that is not quite up there, say a third place team. They could choose the tracks their car excels at and just go balls to the wall there, throw engines at them, ie one or two engines for qualifying only, brand new engine for each one of the 'good' tracks and come away with 5 or 6 wins. That would pretty much put them up there in WDC terms
and make it quite hard for the other teams to catch them up, so we could have a WDC just cruising/serving engine penalties in most of the other races. Or even better, combine it with the new 30 mill cap proposal, same deal, burn your resources on a few races you know you have a competitive edge on. Not pretty in my book. Races would start with "so who's is going for it today?"

[Mattk]

^Yeah, that's a good point. We don't want some drivers simply not bothering just because they have no chance of a win.

[mts6800]

Well you said it yourself. Saying it would have changed everything is thinking in 'time machine' modewhere the actors wouldn't have a chance to adjust their strategy to different rules, but assuming they had known about the ground rules, believe me their strategies would have been different. Do you think McLaren would have still forfeitted their joker engine and reach Spa on a 2 race engine/3 race gearbox? And as we now know, that last race wouldn't have had that 'lap of the century' as it did in the closing stages.

My point was not how all the races last year would have been strategized by the teams but what would happen in the last race if, hypothetically, the teams ended up with the same points/wins as was the case in Brazil last year.

Would their strategies have been different? maybe, maybe the results would have been better, or worse. How does anyone know? In every season, at every race, the objective is to win races because it gains you the most. However; at some point the team realizes that pressing harder for the win risks loosing all the points and decides to take what's on the table. With the new system the teams have to decide what the balance is between getting constructor points and driver wins. I think it's going to be interesting.

As far as a team being able to use their engine quota to win one race, I can't see it. There is so much more to winning than just the engine.

[Alelanza]

My point was not how all the races last year would have been strategized by the teams but what would happen in the last race if, hypothetically, the teams ended up with the same points/wins as was the case in Brazil last year.

Would their strategies have been different? maybe, maybe the results would have been better, or worse. How does anyone know? In every season, at every race, the objective is to win races because it gains you the most. However; at some point the team realizes that pressing harder for the win risks loosing all the points and decides to take what's on the table. With the new system the teams have to decide what the balance is between getting constructor points and driver wins. I think it's going to be interesting.

As far as a team being able to use their engine quota to win one race, I can't see it. There is so much more to winning than just the engine.

Correction: i meant to say Interlagos not Spa above.
Now, thing is, the last two years we had some of the closest most last minute finishes seen in F1, meaning we know the point system does work. What would have happened in Brazil? i'm pretty sure nothing as exciting as what we had. Make 1st place more rewarding? yeah sure use the 12 9 6 5 etc system that most fans agreed was best but were ignored about.
Last year, Brazil being the exception, i don't recall a race where anyone with a shot at WDC settled for 2nd place do you?, it's well known that the F1 race structure n hardware makes it so that baring a last minute breakdown a la Massa @ hungaroring or funky weather such as Spa, most positions are decided after the last pitstop is done and over with. In fact that's why they made all the fuss about downforce/wake reduction, scientifically recognizing the lack of close fighting had a lot to do with the hardware, so the teams spent millions in following the new rules. But then last minute we're told the issue was with the drivers not going for it.... cmon.....
ALso being that 5-6 wins should mean WDC under most scenarios, what would a team do once one of their drivers wins a race? can they afford the luxury of letting both drivers fight it out till the closing stages? i doubt it. A driver with 1 or 2 wins will have the team backing him up with his partner playing second fiddle, meaning very early on in-team competition could be artificially killed off. In a season with so many tech changes, it's very possible for one team to dominate from the start, meaning the only person capable of challenging the guy winning the first one or two GPs has his wings cut and we have little competition.
And now think of Hamilton in Monza 08. Terrible qualifying, so that meant we got to see the good old back of the grid comeback, which is already rare as fortunately F1 does not have artificial rules that put top runners in the back. Would we see that with the new rules? not so sure because now with this rule WCC and WDC come into conflict. On the one hand he can push to get the team some points, on the other hand it's better for him to simply spin it out and stall it after lap 2. He gets to save an engine that way, and being WDC gets a lot more publicity and notoriety it's likely that would have happened, i'm sure the sponsors would have gone that route.
And all things being equal, engine wear becomes very important. It's been said a race old engine can be up to 5 tenths slower depending on the track you're at. With the new 18k limit that may be less, but still it means you can put fresh engines at races and qualis you know you already have an edge on (ie McLaren in Monaco being the prime example) and then cruise along on the ones where you know you already suck at, heck even use a single engine on fuel saving mode on the 6 tracks you have little chances to make an impression on. Meaning in the end the winner will be the team that better gambled which races to go for.
And what about the guy that was second best in wins at the end of the championship? it's entirely possible for someone to have more points than him as he focused on wins. Yet he most likely won't get 2nd place but rather 3rd or 4th as chances are a more constant driver will outscore him points wise. So despite giving his best to get wins he gets penalized under this new scheme. Not that second place is too important, but this very likely scenario does reflect the fundamental flaw with this new system.

[mts6800]

What the hell is an "artificial rule"

Correction: i meant to say Interlagos not Spa above.
Now, thing is, the last two years we had some of the closest most last minute finishes seen in F1, meaning we know the point system does work. What would have happened in Brazil? i'm pretty sure nothing as exciting as what we had. Make 1st place more rewarding? yeah sure use the 12 9 6 5 etc system that most fans agreed was best but were ignored about.

Last year, Brazil being the exception, i don't recall a race where anyone with a shot at WDC settled for 2nd place do you?, it's well known that the F1 race structure n hardware makes it so that baring a last minute breakdown a la Massa @ hungaroring or funky weather such as Spa, most positions are decided after the last pitstop is done and over with. In fact that's why they made all the fuss about downforce/wake reduction, scientifically recognizing the lack of close fighting had a lot to do with the hardware, so the teams spent millions in following the new rules. But then last minute we're told the issue was with the drivers not going for it.... cmon.....

I don't recall anyone stating "the issue was with the drivers not going for it" Certainly overtaking was an issue and that was addressed with the new aero rules.

As far as Brazil last year, LH didn’t settle for second, he settled for fifth. The weather is what made the race dramatic. More dramatic would have been to have LH and FM crossing the line at the finish side by side with the race winner taking the WDC.

ALso being that 5-6 wins should mean WDC under most scenarios, what would a team do once one of their drivers wins a race? can they afford the luxury of letting both drivers fight it out till the closing stages? i doubt it. A driver with 1 or 2 wins will have the team backing him up with his partner playing second fiddle, meaning very early on in-team competition could be artificially killed off. In a season with so many tech changes, it's very possible for one team to dominate from the start, meaning the only person capable of challenging the guy winning the first one or two GPs has his wings cut and we have little competition.

Not much different than seasons under the old WDC rules, and last year, invariably, team drivers didn't fight it out after the last pit stop.

And now think of Hamilton in Monza 08. Terrible qualifying, so that meant we got to see the good old back of the grid comeback, which is already rare as fortunately F1 does not have artificial rules that put top runners in the back. Would we see that with the new rules? not so sure because now with this rule WCC and WDC come into conflict. On the one hand he can push to get the team some points, on the other hand it's better for him to simply spin it out and stall it after lap 2. He gets to save an engine that way, and being WDC gets a lot more publicity and notoriety it's likely that would have happened, i'm sure the sponsors would have gone that route.

The new WDC rules somehow preclude the situation in Monza last year with LH from happening again this year? I don't see how. As far as a driver deliberately spinning out to "save the engine", well I bet he can plan on a short career. Decisions are made as a team, not by the driver alone. Under the two race engine rule we had teams deciding to "pull out" to save the engine. The official reason for retirement was something else of course.

And all things being equal, engine wear becomes very important. It's been said a race old engine can be up to 5 tenths slower depending on the track you're at. With the new 18k limit that may be less, but still it means you can put fresh engines at races and qualis you know you already have an edge on (ie McLaren in Monaco being the prime example) and then cruise along on the ones where you know you already suck at, heck even use a single engine on fuel saving mode on the 6 tracks you have little chances to make an impression on. Meaning in the end the winner will be the team that better gambled which races to go for.

All things aren't equal. A less than the best chassis needs a lot more than a few extra horsepower to set pole


And what about the guy that was second best in wins at the end of the championship? it's entirely possible for someone to have more points than him as he focused on wins. Yet he most likely won't get 2nd place but rather 3rd or 4th as chances are a more constant driver will outscore him points wise. So despite giving his best to get wins he gets penalized under this new scheme. Not that second place is too important, but this very likely scenario does reflect the fundamental flaw with this new system.

Well either his engine blew up or his car failed in some fashion, not his fault, he crashed out, his fault, ,or a pit problem. Only the crashing out, may, get him a black mark on a team's list of potential future drivers. Well, maybe he just wasn't as good as the driver taking the championship.

Conjectures and scenarios can have no end. Reality will be known at the end of the season. Let's see what happens on the way to getting there.

[Alelanza]

You know i was going to write a long reply, but i'm just too happy ATM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7955790.stm

Glad to see common sense has prevailed ;)

[mts6800]

I'm glad you didn' t waste your time. :-)

Racing is unpredictable, this year will be no exception, it will be interesting.

[blue8]

Official: Double diffusers are legal
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74475

I'm actually glad that it was declared legal. It would now be very interesting to see if the big dogs (i.e. Ferrari and McLaren) can develop something in time to catch the 'diffuser-three'

[turpija]

status report:

Ferrari: The lower wishbones are attached to the chassis too high. The gearbox casing is too wide. Costa reckons it will take six races before the entire rear end has been changed. The earliest possible GP would be that of Turkey.

McLaren: The team plans to introduce a temporary solution with a double floor in China. McLaren has been working on two diffuser programmes parallelly. Whitmarsh: ''We will have an 80% solution in the middle of May. In te summer the second phase will come. For this intervention we have to modify the gearbox and the rear suspension.''

Red Bull: The are of the locating points of the pull rods in the way. The rearend crash structure would have to be completely redesigned as well. At the earliest the team could come up with a new solution in Turkey.

Scuderia Toro Rosso: RBR has priority and STR is normally one development stage behind. For them it will take an even longer time.

BMW-Sauber: Things look a bit more positive here. There's not an exact timetable but the team said: ''We will have something come Barcelona.'' It will probably only be a temporary solution though.

Renault: The team has been working on a double-decker diffuser for a longer time. Like McLaren, Renault is willing to introduce a temporary solution before Barcelona still.

Force India: The VJM002 can relatively easily be modified for the new diffuser. The next aerodynamic package is to be introduced in Barclona, a new diffuser will probably be a part of that.

[SHIZL]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/mclarendiffuser.jpg
well there is mclarens temp fix for china

[mts6800]

Looks like minor change. See before pic:
http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires/2009/gpmelbourne/diapoa_004.jpg

to duplicate Brawn, and others, is major carbon fibre work. then you have others that have major issues with gearboxs, suspension. so change all that stuff and you can't test until the friday before a race. the other teams have major problems ahead.

[5vz-fe]

Looks like this season is a write off for Ferrari. They may as well focus on next year's car.

[blue8]

McLaren has been given a suspended three-race ban for bringing the sport into disrepute after lying to stewards at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix.

Following a hearing of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday, the governing body announced that since McLaren had admitted to the offences and made clear that there had been a change of 'culture' at the team, it has suspended the sentence that it deemed appropriate.


More here:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74937

[HeilSvenska]

Rumors of Mercedes exiting F1 are flying around as well as Lola's return.

[yellky]

2010 :: £40 million budget cap and 13 teams:
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/4/9290.html

this is interesting:

A new Costs Commission will monitor and enforce the budget-cap regulations. Those teams accepting the cap will be able to run constantly adjustable wings, engines with no rev limit, more powerful KERS systems, and - in theory - four-wheel drive. They will also be allowed unlimited out-of-season track testing with no restrictions on the scale and speed of wind tunnel testing.

[5vz-fe]

Ferrari taking FIA to court

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090515183912.shtml

It will be interesting to see how things will turn out on Tuesday.

[mts6800]

First, if the court finds that Ferrari has a legal veto power then the FIA is in big trouble.

More interesting is the following quote:

'So how can the FIA make the cost-cutting regulations?', you may well ask. Well the answer, according to Ecclestone, is: "They can't really. The teams allow them." He explains that the FIA has been writing the regulations because the teams haven't opposed it. However, by suggesting the budget cap, Mosley looks to have tipped the balance and the teams are no longer playing ball.I found here: http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=37912

If this article is correct then it's pretty obvious that the FIA is simply Mosley's puppet with respect to F1. Given Mosley's survival of the sex scandal it would appear that they neither have the power or the balls to jettison Mosley.

[5vz-fe]

There's no winner in this IMO. It is just bad for F1's reputation. First the spygate, then the liargate, now another one...

[SHIZL]

not looking good
SILVERSTONE, England (AP) -- Eight Formula One teams began preparations for a rival series after failing to resolve their dispute with motor sport's governing body over financial constraints on Friday.
Ferrari, which has participated since the first season in 1950, and current leader Brawn GP headed the list of Formula One Teams' Association members to announce the split ahead of Sunday's British Grand Prix.
FOTA, which also includes McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, said it would not compromise on the quality of the series by signing up unconditionally for the 2010 F1 season under the FIA's plans for cost-cutting. The FIA's deadline for entry was later Friday.
FOTA's statement criticized the FIA's "uncompromising" stance and attempts, along with the commercial rights holder Formula One Management, to divide its member teams.
As it stands, Williams and Force India will be the only current teams on the F1 starting grid next season while three new outfits -- Campos Racing, Team US F1 and Manor F1 Team -- are also due to enter.
FIA president Max Mosley was insistent on introducing a voluntary $60 million budget cap for teams to curtail a "financial arms race" in F1. Those that don't agree to the cap would have more technical restrictions, something Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo had called "fundamentally unfair."
Now F1 looks set to lose some of its biggest names, including championship leader Jenson Button of Brawn.
"The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 world championship," FOTA said after a meeting near Silverstone. "These teams, therefore, have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners.
"This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders. The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series."
FOTA said its efforts to remain part of Mosley's series had been hampered by the FIA's approach to negotiations.
"The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide FOTA," the group said. "The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006.
"Despite this, and the uncompromising environment, FOTA has genuinely sought compromise."
Amid the global economic downturn, FOTA said it has already embarked on substantial cost-cutting.
The independent Brawn GP team only rose from the ashes of Honda after the Japanese automaker pulled out of F1 late last year as it was forced to focus on its core business. Yet now Button and Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello occupy the top two spots in the drivers' standings going into Sunday's race.
"FOTA is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport," the statement said. "In particular, the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the FOTA initiatives. The FOTA teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future."
The drivers had already been preparing for radical developments to emerge from Thursday's FOTA talks.
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso made it clear in the paddock on Thursday that he would leave F1 if his Renault team pulled out of F1.
"For me the new Formula One would be unattractive, with the small teams and no drivers," Alonso said. "We want to compete with the best teams in the world, the maximum technology: We all want to compete with the best drivers.
"If this is not what Formula One is about next year, then it will be another category with that. I won't retire, I will drive for another championship."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/racing/06/18/F1.turmoil.ap/index.html?eref=si_motorsports

[5vz-fe]

How would you expect teams in different country all using the same budget. There are wage differences. Maybe FIA should also have a budget cap. Take away the private jet from Mosley.

[SHIZL]

seems to be too late for that but yes maybe something for the new series to think about

[5vz-fe]

http://www.worldcarfans.com/9090619.002/official-fota-announce-breakaway-series-for-2010
http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090619083747.shtml

FOTA statement in full
“Since the formation of FOTA last September the teams have worked together and sought to engage the FIA and commercial rights holder, to develop and improve the sport.

“Unprecedented worldwide financial turmoil has inevitably placed great challenges before the F1 community. FOTA is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport.

“In particular the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the FOTA initiatives. The FOTA teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future.

“Following these efforts all the teams have confirmed to the FIA and the commercial rights holder that they are willing to commit until the end of 2012.

“The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide FOTA.

“The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006. Despite this and the uncompromising environment, FOTA has genuinely sought compromise.

“It has become clear however, that the teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship.

“These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new Championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners. This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide, partners and other important stakeholders.

“The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series.”Yup...all hell break loose. RIP F1. We might have to change our forum section to a different name LOL

[turpija]

renault had been suspended from next race which is ironic becouse next race is in valencia

the penalty was becouse alonso lost the wheel which wasn't properly fitted on a car, IMO this decision to penalize them is BS

[mts6800]

I think Renault deserved a penalty but suspension was too harsh. I think a fine was more in order.

Apparently the team is suspended but Alonso may be allowed to race if he can get a ride. So in effect they say Alonso has no blame but Alonso is punished because of the Renault suspension.

Hopefully the appeal will find more intelligent people who will change the suspension to a fine.

[turpija]

Bmw will quit F1 at the end of 2009

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77400

and rumors started that kubica might replace kovolainen in mclaren next year

[Chaos in 1983!]

Confirmed! Alonso to Ferrari for 3 seasons!

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/09/30/official-alonso-to-ferrari-for-3-seasons/

So it finally came true, Alonso is racing for Ferrari... muy thoughts are with Massa though, Alonso has proved that he is not a team player and he likes to be treated like a princess, I really hope Ferrari does not do this and leave Massa as #2 driver, he has the pontential and the talent to be World Champion...
Raikonen will probably end up at McLaren again...

[zeus_2011]

^^^^I for one am definitely looking forward to that bit of news

[Juho]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorsport/6243299/Ari-Vatanen-discusses-the-FIA-presidency.html

Yes?
No?
Maybe so?

[Ghostbat]

http://www.worldcarfans.com/109110422887/toyota-f1-quit-announcement-to-be-made-shortly

Toyota says bye bye.. Not very surprisingly considering their total lack of success.

[nthfinity]

http://www.worldcarfans.com/109110422887/toyota-f1-quit-announcement-to-be-made-shortly

Toyota says bye bye.. Not very surprisingly considering their total lack of success.
Just read that. Not surprising, especially with them never winning a single race! How is it that so much could be spent without success?

Next year will prove interesting. I remember just a few years ago, people were worried that F1 was becoming too high of a budget where only MFR's could perform, or afford the series.... now BMW is gone, and so is Toyota and Ford a while ago now.

[fordgt84]

It's official, Michael Schumacher is coming back to F1.

Michael Schumacher has signed for the Mercedes-Benz Formula One team.
Schumacher's F1 return comes after three years in retirement, having stopped racing in F1 at the end of 2006. He will be 41 in January.


Schumacher said: "The motivation is pretty straightforward. I got a call from Ross (Brawn, team principal) at the beginning of November asking me to race again, telling me Mercedes were going to be involved.
"I've never left the race track, and after three years I regained the energy I'm feeling now. After playing around on motorbikes, I'm ready for the serious stuff."
Germany's Bild newspaper is reporting that he has signed a one-year deal with options for further years depending on performance. He is reported to be earning seven million euros (£6.2m) - a relatively modest salary compared to the sport's highest earners, such as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, who reports suggest could be earning two to three times as much.


Last season he came close to a sensational mid-season comeback when he was asked to fill-in for the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari.
However, those plans were scuppered by a neck injury that he had picked up in a motorcycle crash earlier in the year. He says that injury is no longer a problem.
He said: "Before giving the final okay, I had to make sure my neck was okay. It wasn't okay in the summer, but it's had the time to heal completely."
During his previous 16 seasons in the sport, Schumacher contested 249 grands prix, breaking virtually every record in the sport. He has won the most world titles (seven); most race victories (91); most pole positions (68); highest number of wins in one season (13 in 2004); number of consecutive podiums (19); wins from pole (40); fastest laps (76); hat-trick of pole, win, fastest lap (22), and most number of consecutive results in the points (24).


Asked if he was worried about putting his reputation on the line by returning, Schumacher replied: "I hope they will judge me on what I've done before.
"Brawn is a team that won both championships last year, they now have a strong partner in Mercedes, so the only aim is to go for the championship."
Schumacher revealed that he had consulted wife Corinna on his comeback.
"I had to sort out my personal situation before entering this new one," he said. "She could see the spark in my eyes, and so she didn't really argue."
Schumacher's move to Mercedes GP marks a reunion between himself and the German car maker that helped push him into F1.


He raced for Mercedes-Benz as part of its junior driver programme, competing in world sportscar events during 1990 and 1991.
Schumacher's decision means that Mercedes GP will field an all-German driver line-up in 2010, having already confirmed several weeks ago that Nico Rosberg will race for it.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/Schumacher-Mercedes/246165/

[Mattk]

I wonder how he will do. Returning drivers never seem to do as well.

[gaby_muntean]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8427552.stm

Here is a interview from BBC with Schumi.

I think it will be a very exciting season next year, with Schumi vs. the young guys in F1.

We will have to wait until March for this :)

[numerouno]

The stupid Ferrari pit strategy took the championship right out of their hands!!!:angry:

[zeus_2011]

Gutted as both a Ferrari and Alonso fan, but well done to Vettel though, even if everything went his way today

[5vz-fe]

5 Champs on the starting grid the next year...... One of the most unpredictable season.

[borhanfarrokh]

numerouno i agree with you ...could you tell me the flag with the lion is for which country?

[numerouno]

numerouno i agree with you ...could you tell me the flag with the lion is for which country?

It was Iranian flag, called "Shir-o-Khorshid" (Lion and Sun) before the 1979 revolution.

[nthfinity]

I honestly can't say the race was nearly as entertaining as I had hoped. Nearly impossible track to get a pass on. All the new F1 tracks are technically difficult, but boring, and without elevation changes.

[RC45]

I honestly can't say the race was nearly as entertaining as I had hoped. Nearly impossible track to get a pass on. All the new F1 tracks are technically difficult, but boring, and without elevation changes.

Sort of liike real life Scalectrix :)

[SHIZL]

we'll see next year with the rule changes kers and moveable rear wing if it helps with passing. real good season congrats to red bull and vettel. i think merc gp will have the car to beat next season

[nthfinity]

Not quite. But you only joined recently? Perk it up!

[pitfield]

Goive. You know nothing.

[jasonnorin]

Lewis Hamilton is really dominating this year's Formula one. He is another step closer in claiming this season's drivers' championship, following him on the lead is his team mate Nico Rosberg. More money in the bank for these 2. However, I can feel the frustrations being felt by Rosberg as he vowed to catch up with Hamilton.