New F1 season kicks off this weekend (Page 23 of 33)

Congratulations Mike on reaching exulted Bonametal status. 

Excellent 1000th post.  When I want to know anything at all about F1 I know who to ask.  Chapeaux!

Already gone to far. Renault, Merc and the others have already spent millions of dollars on it all. Could be that it gets delayed but only if the engine manufacturers find they can't supply the engines to all the teams at a reasonable cost. Thats what most of the non manufacturer teams are moaning about. The initial cost of the engines will be much higher than what they already have to pay.

Bernie's worry is that if that cost is so much higher he will be forced to give up more of his profits to the teams so they can afford it. As with everything in F1 it is all about the money.

So, maybe it could be delayed, but Renault and Merc and more importantly the FIA want engines with a more eco friendly footprint and in Renaults case something that has a road car connection.

Personally I think it is too soon and these current V8's could have stayed in place for another 5 years but then Renault would have stepped out and Mercedes, Ferrari and Cosworth were unsure about picking up the slack.

Shame though.

So sad to see the day come that was inevitable. Schumi was one of the truly great ones, seemingly able to win by force of will at times. I hope he snags one more podium on the last leg of a fantastic career. Maybe on a wet day when he really shines. I think he may have another great drive left in him, even with the machinery being less than stellar. I got to sit in one of his cars once. This one:  http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/05/14/s … /dsc07565/ A fan's dream come true.
Rick

So another race and another Vettel victory. Ominous. Good that Alonso got to the finish to at least keep the difference to Vettel minimal.

Alonso's optimism is heartening, claming that Vettel will also not be able to keep it up, but I'm not so sure. Looks like Red Bull have found something to give them an edge, perhaps their new double DRS system. They appear to have fine tuned it now to the degree that it is offering a clear advantage, or rather that it now affords them no longer the disadvantage of being one of the slower cars at the end of the straight!.........confusing isn't it?

What confuses me is that today Webber got a good start today. Not tardy. He was clearly away OK and then.........nothing. It was like he missed a shift or something. Vettel just powered up to and by him and was able to claim the corner.

So how was it done? Mark has the 'clean' side of the track and yet Vettel seems to get more oooph through the gears. Don't get it. Mark isn't a mug. I don't like throwing up conspiracy theories, but Vettel was not happy after missing out on pole and he is a greedy little chap. Likeable, but very greedy and Red Bull seem prepared to feed that greed (Helmut Marko certainly, whom I don't like one bit).

Team orders are allowed in F1, but team tinkering isn't. RB sail very close to the wind on rule interpretation and observing the 'spirit' of them isn't in their dictionary. Suffice to say that it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Mark's KERS wasn't 'fully functioning' at the start...........oh what a happy coincidence.

It isn't like Vettel needs any help. He's good enough to do it on his own. But I just get this feeling.............

Strange how the season has gone. Difficult to understand how the team with the fastest car up until Japan has no chance of winning the drivers title.

Hulkenberg has had an excellent second half of the season. the first half wasn't shabby either. Sauber could be a good move for him as is seems Ferrari will saty with Massa now, at least for another year. Senna seems certain to lose his drive with Williams despite the budget he might have. I'm gutted it hasn't worked out as I really thought he had 'it'. Rumour was both Williams drivers could be out, but with Chavez winning a 4th term in Venezuela then Maldonaldo's PDVSA sponsorship will still be available.

Politics and conspiracy theories in F1? Can't be right..............pah....who am I kidding?

Great race today by Kimi in Lotus. Some exciting racing on a great track.
Rick

The BBC did an interview with Martin Whitmarsh who said it was a fuel pump problem and as part of the engine package was <ahem> a Mercedes fault, not theirs.  But as the BBC team were quick to point out, with drivers going over the bumpy hard kerbs and the ensuing vibrations it's not surprising things start to some loose.  So, a couple of races have seen Lewis going out with technical problems and you've got to feel for the guy.  I'm sure he's expecting super efficiency from his new team next year and let's hope they can deliver.  I'd hate to see him lose any motivation.  At the end of the day it's not all about how much you earn. 

Unfortunately I didn't get to watch the race (just some highlights) but it was truly fantastic to see Kimi and the Lotus team on the podium in #1 position!  Who'd have thought we'd see the famous racing green and gold car beat the likes of McLaren, Ferrari et al.  Which makes for a real exciting tussle now at the top of the leaderboard with Alonso just 10 points adrift of Vettel.  So, was Vettel lucky to finish where he did?  Imagine if he'd finished lower down in the points ...

Hard to say who my money's on to win the championship this year.  Both Vettel and Alonso are going for their third championship which will put them on a par with the late, great Ayrton Senna.  One thing you can be sure of is that team orders are going to have to be considered for the next two races.  Although Red Bull seem to have got this season buttoned up in terms of the Team Championship, with so much at stake and so little time everyone is going to be working flat out to give their guy the best possible car.

Great, great win by Lewis Hamilton at last weekend's inaugural race at Austin, Texas and for the history books he's done a back to back win in the USA, albeit with 5 years or so inbetween!  His win which put Vettel in second and Alonso in third means that the championship will certainly go down to the wire in Brazil with only 13 points between Sebastian and Fernando.  The maths are complicated and I wouldn't like to say who my money's on.  Hamilton reckons the track will probably suit the Ferrari rather than the Red Bulls, but with everything to play for both teams are sure going to make sure their cars are as good as they can get.  Hopefully Red Bull have sorted out their reliability problems with alternators, or whatever.

One slightly sour point coming from the weekend.  Allegedly Ferrari did some work on Massa's car after qualifying had finished (removing a thingummyjig, thus making a very small modification to the car) which meant he had a grid penalty allowing Alonso to move up on the grid and start on the cleaner side of the track. 

But onwards to Sao Paolo!

Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh do I love debating when the odds are against the ones who seem to be the winners, but aren't in the end......in other words, the elitey, short-sighted lot I see up there, hehehehheheheheheheh...NO offence though. So who the hell cares if Hamilton won in Austin....he's DEAD out of the race [pun INTENDED, heheh] to become world driver's champion...and so is the other DUMB-Mercedes driver, hahahahahhahahahah = Button:):)!!!! It's Vettel vs Alonso my friends both for driver's chanpionship and team championship!! It's obvious that Vettel will win this season and so will Red Bull, BUT, I'm DEAD happy....VERY happy, that Ferrari is AHEAD of Mercedes in the team chAmPionship CLASSIFICATION (Alonso over Hamilton, hahahahah!!!) and that Massa got back into shape again (2 late in my opinion!!). Even Lotus did better overall than sh**ty Mercedes, hahahah !! Mercedes will NEVER do any good in F1...and if it does win next year's championship, it will have to drive a llloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way before it gets anywhere near what Ferrari won in F1:):)!!!!
Conclusion:
FERRARI IS STILL ONE OF THE TEAMS TO BEAT...TODAY, TOMORROW AND FOREVER:)!!