F1 News & Rumours

[styla21]

Originally Posted by Alelanza Honda's F1 outfit seems to have found a buyer http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...708425,00.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

[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/mot...632734601.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.


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...


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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by mts6800 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]

Originally Posted by Alelanza 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.