2009 F1 Season

[Kaido_RR]

the good ol days are gone.......long gone

he should have been stripped of his position once that prostitute incident arised.

he's destroying the sport bit by bit, its a joke i can't see many new up and coming drivers wanting to join F1 if it gets any worse, my guess is they'll go into rally or touring car.

And whats the point of having different manufacturers if your going to cap them to a budget, its their money let them spend as much as they want, not like the 10million they save is going to feed the hungry who lost jobs over this financial turmoil

Its becoming ridiculous

drivers will come no matter how shit the sport becomes; look how much f1 drivers get pay; some reports say lewis will earn 100 million over 10years

f**k me for that money i race donkeys

Edited March 18, 2009 by [Michael]

[dezz]

drivers will come no matter how shit the sport becomes; look how much f1 drivers get pay; some reports say lewis will earn 100 million over 10years

f**k me for that money i race donkeys

I dare say he'd earn more than that....I read even Webber is on something like 10mil a year...

[BigDirtyJase]

Well Bernie is farking with the points this late in the game? Not sure what i think of the medal system. First reaction is its is a farce. But.... yeh its a farce, so a guy that clearly scores more points then another car, say 30 points who only wins 6 races vs the 7 of the guy that comes 2nd or 3rd in points doesnt win the champsionship?!?!?!!?

Will have to see how it pans out. Other then last year i cant think of too many recent seasons where the guy that won the most races didnt win the WDC...so

LOL can see serious contenders for the WDC cruising in races to ensure reliability for next rounds given engine and gearbox rules etc. If they want the guy in 2nd to have a go then surely they have stuffed the racing for the guys in 3rd and 4th who can only dream of getting a single race win to go with their season of podiums

The new system on pure race wins is complete an utter crap....It just means that drivers will be going for the win - all the time putting themselves and their car at risk.

A champion (in my eyes) is how consitant he/she is thoughout the season. (The last time I can remember a person winning a championship in any form of motorsport without winning a race was in World Supersport (Motobikes) back in 2001 when Andrew Pitt won the championship without winning a single race. He consistantly finished where the race winners were crashing out all around or finish very poorly).

So Looking at it very loosely (and maybe stupidly) say for example Massa wins the first 7 races and then has a horrible 2nd half of the season (where he finished out of the podium and had crashes) and the other are shared between the top line drivers (say Webber, Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica and Räikkönen all had 2 wins) but were more consistant for the enitre year...Massa wins the title due to more race wins...It goes to show that this system is flawed.

For sure it would be more exciting for TV but it's just as dangerous because towards the end of the race you going to have drivers going to do suicide overtaking moves to win a race

What they should have done is increase first place to 12 points to put a greater importance of the race win...

Edited March 18, 2009 by BigDirtyJase

[ctjet]

oh son of rajab... expect the team orders saga to go to a whole new level

this is not going to work at all

[knore]

Yeah old people who werent ever Formula One drivers are the ones that make all the decisions.. Its what is fundamentally wrong with the entire planet.

Polititians are too old, how the f*ck do they have any idea what life is like now. When they got into parliment in their mid twenties and ever since have lived a sheltered and high paying life.

They dont know shit.

Likewise the owners/managers of F1.

Also, dont take the honda times AT ALL people. Flavio said recently that testing has 2 purposes.. For the established teams its an opportunity to test parts and confirm reliability. For new teams and unstable teams (honda) its the best way for them to get to the top of the sheets in their effort to gain sponsorship. The times mean nothing.

And 100 million over 10 years? Kimi and Alonso were on 40-50 million for one year in 07.. Infact i remember reading something that said when Lewis first signed contract to join mclaren.. It was only for 300,000 UK pounds when alonso was on 40 Million USD!

[sh@un]

oh son of rajab... expect the team orders saga to go to a whole new level

this is not going to work at all

one thing it will ensure, is that this years thread gets to past 150 pages (versus last years 97). lol

[JUN`R32]

this thread will be one of the most interesting.

do you guys know if that new channel ONE (on ten) will show the races live on HD ????

I think bernie has made this year primarily to grab more viewers, night races, cars look a little more modernized and funky, KERS, new points system.

all of the above will have many more veiwers watching as previously said we will see some crazy overtaking maneuvers and die hard racing for race wins

[ctjet]

Also, dont take the honda times AT ALL people. Flavio said recently that testing has 2 purposes.. For the established teams its an opportunity to test parts and confirm reliability. For new teams and unstable teams (honda) its the best way for them to get to the top of the sheets in their effort to gain sponsorship. The times mean nothing.

not true old boy

BGP was consistently fast over long runs and even their mock race simulationthe other day.

What was more staggering was their 1 lap pace. You cant fake dropping into the 1:17's regularly with a shitbox

saying this, i still somehow dont take their title chances very seriously

[dezz]

And 100 million over 10 years? Kimi and Alonso were on 40-50 million for one year in 07.. Infact i remember reading something that said when Lewis first signed contract to join mclaren.. It was only for 300,000 UK pounds when alonso was on 40 Million USD!

Yep, thats more like it.

I do remember hearing something last year about Lewis and a dollar figure...Might have been something like first Englishman to make $x, but it would have to be a lot more than $100million, with what some English football players are on etc...and I think it was about him potentially being the first to get to the figure, not having already earnt that much...

Like I said, I saw a list of the top paid Australian sports people, and Webber was somewhere in the middle on 11-14mil a year from memory...

Not sure on exact figures, but remember hearing Kimi being on something like $35million (think it was AUD$) in his first year at Ferrari...

But enough about that....Not long to go now..CAN'T EFFING WAIT

[djr81]

the good ol days are gone.......long gone

he should have been stripped of his position once that prostitute incident arised.

he's destroying the sport bit by bit, its a joke i can't see many new up and coming drivers wanting to join F1 if it gets any worse, my guess is they'll go into rally or touring car.

And whats the point of having different manufacturers if your going to cap them to a budget, its their money let them spend as much as they want, not like the 10million they save is going to feed the hungry who lost jobs over this financial turmoil

Its becoming ridiculous

So when, exactly were the good old days? I can't remember a time when F1 was anything other than riven by politics & decisions made by the FIA anything short of ludicrous. Remember Mosely, for all his faults, replaced a bloke that was far, far worse.

If you hadn't noticed the WRC is down to two manufacturers, Loeb is the only one who wins anymore & touring cars ie the WTCC is in the toilet. The only hope on the horizon is sports cars & they never really capture the mainstream.

Capping costs in motorsport stops companies like Ford from dropping out. They don't like sinking tens of millions into motor racing (or more eg Honda) simply to make up the numbers.

Having said all that Bernies latest brain explosion about who wins most gets the championship is rubbish. Throws away 50 years of tradition & makes a mockery of the constructors championship & any teams results if they fail to win a GP. All they had to do was increase the number of points for the winning driver relative to P2. Same effect.

The shame of it all is that those in control of motor racing feel they need to stir up controversy to keep people interested. The worry is they may be right.

[Roy]

Heikki stands no chance of winning a GP in 2009. If Lewis is in wiht a chance you watch the fuelling and pit strategy for Heikki mean they guy is only ever collecting points for the WCC.

I think over at Ferrari the first driver to get a two GP advatnage over the team mate will bag the support of the team for the remainder of the season.

You have effectiley halved the number of contenders for the WDC with the new points system

[ctjet]

i reckon ill drop a couple of bucks on alonso taking this years WDC

no team mate to race with, and the guy finally has a car he can race with

if overtaking is going to be as prominent as they say, there'll be no holding him back if he happens to be buried in the pack with a light car

ill lock it in now, Nando for 09

[sh@un]

Yep, thats more like it.

I do remember hearing something last year about Lewis and a dollar figure...Might have been something like first Englishman to make $x, but it would have to be a lot more than $100million, with what some English football players are on etc...and I think it was about him potentially being the first to get to the figure, not having already earnt that much...

read a while back that Shumi made over $AUD 1.5 billion from F1 while he was racing when taking team pay and various high-end endorsements into account.

why couldn't my parents have scraped together enough dough to fund me a karting career back in the mid 80's?

Having said all that Bernies latest brain explosion about who wins most gets the championship is rubbish. Throws away 50 years of tradition & makes a mockery of the constructors championship & any teams results if they fail to win a GP.

i will laugh 'til i die of stomach cramp if at the end of the season Ferrari loses out on a WDC due to an engine related DNF that sees them finish ahead on points, but not race wins

ill lock it in now, Nando for 09

Judas

[lingeringsoul]

so whats this in season test ban?

No more testing EVER uuntil the end of the year?

[JUN`R32]

From the FIA regulations pdf

b) No competitor may carry out more than 15,000km of track testing during a calendar year.

c) No track testing may take place between the start of the week preceding the first Event of the

Championship and 31 December of the same year.

[ctjet]

Judas

lol

pre season form is suggesting that he's going to have a very good car, and god help the rest of the field if that renault is as good as he says it is.

And as far as testing goes, expect fridays to be jam packed now. More on track action never hurt anybody

[knore]

Im for Alonso too, who else?

I think he is the most talented in modern F1, the only person to ever stop Schumacher.

Granted he has some emotional/attitude issues. But who wouldnt, he could of had 4 titles by now if it wasnt for a certain disrespectful teammate.

I think BMW will be good this year too, apparantly they started development months before some of the other teams.

But then again, the skill and adaptive ability of the drivers is whats going to bring results. Especially considering how different the cars are.

Thats why i think fernando is going to be very good. I remember reading many years ago in F1 mag that the journalist couldnt believe how nando could just kick a football around the factory while the team did work, then jump in the car, smash 50 laps all within tenths of each other, then go back to kicking the ball around like it was nothing.

His insane form and consistancy is what got him from a tester to driver. In Schumachers book, micheal predicted alonso would be the one to beat him.. Simply from watching alonso in testing!

Whoever wins this year, i think its going to be one of the greatest seasons ever in F1. Or, if reliability shows its head, one of the worst.

Either way, we are in for a good show.. 6 days to go

- And on the honda times.. Its much easier to setup a car to be very fast on single laps than it is to be moderately fast for the entire race. If the honda really is fast, has anyone got a list of the laptimes from everyone of the 100+ laps they did?

Big teams often dont give away their sheer pace, computers will help them to tell how much faster they can go.

Should have made a poll to see who thinks will win the title this year, would make it interesting at the end to see how accurate we were.

[djr81]

Im for Alonso too, who else?

I think he is the most talented in modern F1, the only person to ever stop Schumacher.

Granted he has some emotional/attitude issues. But who wouldnt, he could of had 4 titles by now if it wasnt for a certain disrespectful teammate.

I think BMW will be good this year too, apparantly they started development months before some of the other teams.

But then again, the skill and adaptive ability of the drivers is whats going to bring results. Especially considering how different the cars are.

Thats why i think fernando is going to be very good. I remember reading many years ago in F1 mag that the journalist couldnt believe how nando could just kick a football around the factory while the team did work, then jump in the car, smash 50 laps all within tenths of each other, then go back to kicking the ball around like it was nothing.

His insane form and consistancy is what got him from a tester to driver. In Schumachers book, micheal predicted alonso would be the one to beat him.. Simply from watching alonso in testing!

Whoever wins this year, i think its going to be one of the greatest seasons ever in F1. Or, if reliability shows its head, one of the worst.

Either way, we are in for a good show.. 6 days to go

- And on the honda times.. Its much easier to setup a car to be very fast on single laps than it is to be moderately fast for the entire race. If the honda really is fast, has anyone got a list of the laptimes from everyone of the 100+ laps they did?

Big teams often dont give away their sheer pace, computers will help them to tell how much faster they can go.

Should have made a poll to see who thinks will win the title this year, would make it interesting at the end to see how accurate we were.

Not me. Not really. I respect his talent & support him to a degree. But I cant get past his antics at McLaren.

He wasn't the only person to ever stop Schumacher. Far from it. Just the only one of them still going around.

Disrespectful team mates. It is F1. You don't, as a driver, get respected by a team mate. You get targetted by him as it is the closest measure of a drivers relative worth.

I noticed that the Williams did the Brawn hollow in the last test so who knows any more.

At the end of the day if your teams times are rubbsih (eg McLaren at the moment) then chances are the car is bad rather than the team snadbagging. You can only simulate things such as tyre degredation so far - you still need to go out & belt around to find out how real it is. If they are quick - yeah it may be only qualifying pace but you would rather start P1 that P20, surely?

Edited March 20, 2009 by djr81

[JUN`R32]

I respect alonso for his ability behind the wheel, his attitude at times can be annoying but rather him than that hammo f@g

would be good to alonso win it this year....

wanna see alonso behind the wheel of a ferrari if the renault isnt up to scratch, that would be sweat.

Hard to say who's quickest right now, will have to wait n see at melbourne for the true results.

[knore]

Yeah its so open, will make for great racing.

I hope to see webber finally get a win!

Somehow, given the media and way F1 is.. I dont think what happened with alonso and mclaren has been properly recieved by the public.

He was given a gag order and said recently he will tell all when he eventually releases a book.

Personally i would have been pissed too. As if he wasnt promised alot and then no delivered, as we all know, he was world champion, with schumacher gone, and a rookie team mate.

Ron would have promised him alot. But its in the past, it will be interesting to hear the real story without media interferance.

It would be nice if a few different people got wins this year, it brings alot of confidence.