2008 F1 Season

[Roy]

I clearly remember DC beign told to move over for Mika two GPS in a row. Mika had never won a GP at this point, DC had. In fact he had won McLarens first GP in ages for the team. Yet he was asked to move over for Mika. He did, Mika won his first GP. That was the last race of the season.

Next race in Melb, new season ... and Mika had a stuff up in the pits so lost the lead to DC. How many times had DC had problems in the pits etc in his career and Mika was never told to surrender the place back to DC??? SO DC again moved over for Mika, why? He is a nice bloke and a team player. But that was the end of DC and the day i began to loathe McLaren.

So...they are all guilty. Williams were always pretty, have a go, just dont take each other out.

[djr81]

Roy I think you are probably the only person out there who got more upset about whatever went on between Mika & Coulthard in the 1997 European GP than with all the other stuff that went on, ie

Ferrari allegedly colluding with Sauber.

Mclaren allegedly colluding with Williams.

Schumacher trying to run Villeneuve off the road.

As for team orders I should say that I don't actually have much of a problem with them. Clearly F1 team bosses with massive organisations to run should be able to do so however they want. The only time I have an issue with it is when they are enforced in circumstances where they are not at all necessary. Eg The famous Indy race a few years back (the one with six starters) or the 2002 Austrian Gp.

The more fundamental problem is that the stupid rule changes prohibiting team orders have three main failings:

1. They clearly are being ignored or worked around.

2. They make liars of the drivers/team owners etc who implement them.

3. They treat followers of the sport like a bunch of clueless simpletons.

Edited August 28, 2008 by djr81

[Beer Baron]

yeah I don't have a real problem with team orders in general. I mean, it is a team sport. and the owner should be able to tell his drivers to do what he thinks is best for his team.

[JAS-25T]

lol big-head much?

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4050717,00.html

no I in team

There is a M and an E though

[Roy]

I dont have a problem with team orders when its common sense and a particular car needs the result more then the other. But it annoys me when it does nothing championship wise, and purely because of post race blow jobs one driver is instructed to move over. Its like if Fisi was leading the next race and he was told to pull over for Sutil. That would be a corck of shit, or Nakajima for Rosberg. So far this year, the Kubey/HEidfeld was smart, the Lewis/Heikki smart. Thats teamwork.

But yeh...DC shoudl never have taken it all on board so sportingly

[BezerkR32]

A little off topic, but is anyone going to GP next year?

Just booked accomodation, cant book tickets until the 23rd. Looking at the 4 corners package. 7 months to go, cant wait.

[dezz]

Dare say I'll be there again...been the last however many years...thinking of getting grandstand tickets this year though

[BezerkR32]

Last year was the first time i had been. we sat in the Jones stand, was awesome. You wont regret spending the cash on stand tickets.

Dare say I'll be there again...been the last however many years...thinking of getting grandstand tickets this year though

[ctjet]

Dare say I'll be there again...been the last however many years...thinking of getting grandstand tickets this year though

if all goes well i should be attending the inaugural dubai GP and then flying over to europe every few months to my favorite races

next year will be the first year i havent been to albert park since it started here

*sad

[sh@un]

that's an impressive effort. i should really at least get my arse to Albert Park next year

[ctjet]

turn 1 grandstand, or turn 8 general are the places to be

Edited September 2, 2008 by ctjet

[dezz]

Turn 9 on the hill is pretty good as far as general admission goes...

Definitely thinking grandstand next year though

[Whiplash]

booked my leave in last week, just looking for accommodation and flights,

going to get a few team passes through one of the GT teams, could try for a F1 team pass or 2 but may be pushing my luck

either way can't wait been 13 years since i have been to a GP

[wolverine]

from F1

Q: Christian, how would you sum up the current situation?

Christian Horner: After a very strong first half of the season, the team has endured a very frustrating past few weeks, with no points scored in the last four races. It is extremely important that we reverse this trend and get back on terms with Renault and close the gap to Toyota. The next few circuits, in particular Spa, should play to the strengths of the RB4 package. Over the past six weeks, we have analysed our performance in great detail and that analysis reveals the chassis is working well and we have pushed very hard in the factory to improve in all areas. Valencia did not play to our strengths, but we are convinced we can bounce back.

SAU analysis of Horner's resposes: Engine is shit.

Q: What has proved to be the most critical factor affecting Red Bull’s level of competitiveness?

CH: Tyres are proving to be the biggest factor at the moment. Over the past couple of months, Toyota has looked very strong tyre wise in the higher temperatures. It’s not a case of our rivals suddenly ‘bolting on’ more performance. It’s down to tyre usage and they have handled that better than us. We have understood why this happened and I feel we can get on top of this situation and return to our earlier form for the final third of the season, hopefully starting this weekend in Spa.

SAU analysis of Horner's responses: Its actually not the tyres, the engine it is shit.

Q: Can the team expect a better weekend in Spa?

CH: I think so, as apart from anything else, there are a lot more high speed corners than in Budapest or Valencia! We had a good test in Monza and although that was aimed primarily at the Italian Grand Prix, the results of the test answered several fundamental questions about our package. Apart from the track characteristics, the weather always plays a crucial part in Belgium, therefore we will need to be particularly sharp operationally and in terms of strategy, dealing with the fact that sometimes, half the track can be dry and the other half wet. We need to go there and attack the weekend, we need both our drivers to be on top of their game, aiming to finish in the points. At the moment, the section of the grid that includes, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, ourselves, Williams and now, Sebastian Vettel, is extremely tight and, as we’ve seen at the last few races, one tenth of a second can make the difference between four grid positions. Even with the long lap at Spa, I think we can expect a very tight grid, while the early Autumn weather, the race taking place a weekend later than usual, can add further unpredictability.

SAU analysis of Horner's response: No chance, since the engine is shit, DC is retiring and he is just circulating looking for another backmarker to impact test their sidepods, and lastly unless MW qualifies up the grid he ain't going anywhere (unfortunately).

Q: Has the need to turn the current situation around had a negative impact on development work on next year’s car?

CH: The whole group is working extremely hard to balance its resources between on-going development of RB4, currently more important than ever, given the performance downturn we’ve just been discussing and the work on the 2009 project. However, right from the end of 2007, we planned for RB4 development to continue to the end of the 2008 season and therefore the pressure to make up the ground lost in recent weeks has no impact on our work on next year’s car. The team has worked well together putting in concerted effort and man-hours to understand and find solutions to our recent problems, so we are going to Spa in fighting mood, determined to come away with some points.

SAU analysis of Horner's response: We are working hard but the engine is shit and things aren't likely to change.

[Roy]

The engine may not be as great as some of the others, but at the European GP Webber had good top speed, along with the STR and Ferrari. So its obvious the RBR/STR is pretty good aerodynamically. The only thing is perhaps RBR had to run less wing for that top speed and in the corners/downforce wise they are struggling compared to STR and some of the others

[wolverine]

its probably not that bad but the "reliability upgrades" of the other engines manufacturers seem to have helped them and renault and RBR are struggling a bit. webbo was grumbling about the engine a bit at the last race so i guess this implies that that if he is going to call it like it is then there must be something to it.

the "reliability upgrades" seem to have helped their pace but their reliability seems to have gone south......hmm.

[ctjet]

the 'old tricks' bag has made a triumphant return

hoorah

[djr81]

the 'old tricks' bag has made a triumphant return

hoorah

They went away? You can pretty much always rely on F1 teams to adhere to the letter of the law & compeltely violate its intent.

Truth is Renault aren't spending as much as they used to & it is showing.

[ctjet]

so this may be a blast from the past, but did we ever find out what that white power Nigel Stephany allegedly used to "sabotage" the fez in monaco was?

or have we all forgiven and forgotten?

Edited September 4, 2008 by ctjet

[Beer Baron]

there is one thing I find interesting. webber always seems to be up amongst the top few drivers in the apex speed measurements they show from time to time. what this tells me is the RBR is underpowered. often guys with underpowered cars can carry more corner speed, yet the guys with more power pull more speed down the straight, then stand on the brakes, end up with slower apex speed but can stomp on the gas again at corner exit and romp away to a faster overall lap.

anyway I'm not holding out too much hope for RBRs end of season results.