F1 - 2010

KERS on all cars would add another dimension to the racing, albeit a dimension ChampCar had years ago. ChampCar also debuted the 2-compounds-1-tire-manufacturer concept. I guess they were just ahead of their time.

The Malaysia race should be a fun one thanks to the scrambled grid. It's bizarre to see Ferrari and McLaren screwing up qualifying strategies just like last year.

 

Makes me think they need to give points for qualifying and invert the field for the start.

Would have to be enough points to make it worthwhile to go for pole.

 

Agree Nathan, it was great fun watching the quick guys working their way to the front and I think some of the slower guys actually pushed a bit harder in the process!!!! Was a much better race to watch even if a time trial still broke out towards the end... Me thinks though that if the Red Bull duo has solved their reliabilty problems, the rest have some catching up to do.rrr:

 

The time trial would have been better to watch if the feed showed us the Red Bull cars swapping fast laps. However, since they were so far ahead of the rest of the field and not racy at all with each other it would of made for poor TV anyplace but Vettel and Weber's hometowns.

 

No, no, no! A thousand times no! Malaysia was fun to watch, but the point of racing isn't to be fun to watch, it's to find the fastest competitor. If the fastest competitor is half a second quicker in qualifying and runs out to an insurmountable lead in the race, so be it. Artificially leveling the playing field in the interest of improving the show is not racing.

Anyway...is there any doubt that Lewis Hamilton is the best driver in the field at this point? I don't like him, I think he's bratty and he drives very arrogantly, but there is no one who can get more out of his car. His passes lean tend to be of the as-a-matter-of-fact-I-do-own-the-whole-damn-road variety, but he gets things done that no one else seems to do.

 

Did they ever say what was wrong with Alonso's Ferrari? In my opinion his was one of the more inspired drives of the race given what ever gremlin was plaguing his ride and all the more heart breaking to see it break with one lap to go.

Reminded me of a similar faith Massa suffered two seasons ago in one of the races where the engine went with a lap to go with him in the lead. Cost him the race and in retrospect the championship.

 

From the in car it seemed to being going into neutral in between shifts...never heard what the deal was but he did keep a very good pace under those conditions for awhile....

Bet Shumacher wasn't a lot of fun to be around after the race either...:incazzato:

 

As far as I could tell and the fact that the other 2 Ferrari engines retired, it looks like a pneumatic/hydraulic problem. The valve trains are controlled by air pressure and it appears to have failed on Alonso's car. From the video of the bits and sparks coming off of Alonso's car, it looked to be the valve train that bit the dust. I believe the same type of control is used for the tranny.

 

Ready for the next F1 scandal?

Get ready for cold-gas-gate then.....

 

Renault team boss Eric Boullier believes Lewis Hamilton should have been penalised for weaving on the straight ahead of Vitaly Petrov during Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.

Hamilton made four or five weaving manoeuvres on the pit straight in an attempt to break the slipstream being gained by Petrov behind him. According to the rules, drivers may only make one defensive move, and then another before the braking zone. Hamilton successfully kept Petrov behind him, but the incident was reported to the stewards who issued the McLaren driver with a warning.

After the race Boullier told Spain's AS newspaper: "We have expressed our opinion (to the FIA). The warning was not enough."

The newspaper also quoted Ferrari test driver Marc Gene as describing Hamilton's driving as "wrong", while Virgin tester Andy Soucek said the Briton should have penalised "absolutely, without any doubt".

Former Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson told BBC radio: "I don't know what Lewis was doing, weaving all over the track. I think he thought he was playing a Playstation rather than real life."

 

Apr.6 (GMM) F1 will shed some of its current races to make room for New York and Russia, according to Bernie Ecclestone.

The sport’s chief executive said recently he is pushing for a street race in New Jersey in 2012, and he has now said in an interview with Bloomberg that he also wants Russia to have a grand prix.

Ecclestone, 79, said there are three potential sites for the race outside Manhattan, while Moscow or the resort city Sochi are the possible venues for Russia.

“We’ll make a decision in the next couple of months” on the locations, said the Briton.

Ecclestone has often talked about expanding the calendar from its current 19 events to 20 or more, but he now says F1 will review its “traditional” European hosts, such as the two races in Spain.

“We’re going to lose some races for sure, there are some races we can afford to lose without too much problem,” he said. “I’ve spoken to the countries to see what we can come up with.”

 

A Michelin official has confirmed the French company is considering coming back to Formula One in 2011 as a tyre supplier.

Speculation about Michelin's return gained momentum at Sepang last weekend, after team bosses met with Bernie Ecclestone and discussed at length how to handle the departure of Bridgestone as the official supplier at the end of the season. Michelin left F1 after an intense tyre war with Bridgestone at the end of 2006, upset that the sport had opted to run with just a single supplier.

Rumours in Malaysia said Michelin wants to be paid to return next year and favours a move from 13 to 18-inch wheel hub diameters. A spokesman said in February that Michelin "might consider returning but there are some very clear conditions".

And in the wake of the latest reports, a representative told French daily Le Figaro: "We have made no decision. But we are closely monitoring the evolution of the regulations, knowing that we are committed to promoting the technical quality of our products and also the notion of respect for the environment."

Michelin is also believed to be open to a tyre war with rival manufacturers.

 

18 inch wheels on F1 cars? I like it. I hope they get a reg in there about making the wheels chrome. That would be so gangster.

 

May I be the first to cast a vote to drop Bahrain...

 

"Afford" being the operative word, I'm sure. Bernie makes his bucks from the Bahrains of the world. I bet Jerez is on the expendable list since the horrible Valencia street circuit is also in Spain and no doubt brings in lots more money.

Is there someone in New York/New Jersey looking to buy a date on the F1 calendar? I'm sure Bernie and the sponsors would love to entertain guests during a Manhattan F1 weekend, but are any of them going to build the garages and all the other facilities needed to host the race?

 

I think sidewall flex is the largest suspension element on current F1 cars! They'll have to get some much softer springs if the wheels get that big. It would be nice, though, if bigger wheels brought with them some big iron brake discs to lengthen the braking zones and make passing more likely.

 

Another team has come out of the woodwork to express interest in the 13th slot on the 2011 Formula One grid. Former GP2 team Durango has revealed that it intends to apply for the final spot left vacant by U.S. F1.

At the end of the 2009 season, Durango withdrew from GP2 for financial reasons. According to team boss Ivone Pinton, sponsors were only keen on supporting an F1 program, which spurred his team's hopeful move to the top open-wheel series with the backing of "two very big international groups."

In addition to Durango's GP2 experience, the team has run campaigns in Formula 3000 and is participating in the Auto GP championship this season.