We are thrown headlong into another week, but at least we have testing to keep us amused. The guys were throwing it around the track at Jerez yesterday, with Vettel fastest, so it will be interesting to keep an eye on them throughout today as well.
- Whitmarsh has officially taken over the lead of McLaren, as of 1st March. I am particularly interested to find out how he will do at the helm of a team trying to defend a championship. He seems nice but is he ruthless enough to get the job done?
- The Force India was launched yesterday, with it's orange and green livery. Fisichella has said he expects KERS to be introduced in Spain, which is the start of the European season. Is this what we expect from most of the teams, or earlier/later than usual?
- The team also admitted that having signing such a late deal with McLaren left things a little bit tight for them to meet their deadlines. That means little testing, which in turn means... slow cars? Do we expect Force India to be moving up the grid this year? Or more of the same from them?
F1 Debrief will also be along very soon, although if anyone wants to watch the live recording of the show, the replay is available here. As usual, I will see you in the comments.
First.
Lou just compared my F1 memory to Steven's. That's an honour. Steven knows A LOT! Just a 5 minute conversation with him and you'll find out. Steven would destroy me in any such contest.
Also, tonight was really fun, even though I didn't talk much. I wouldn't do a Sidepodpanel or chat thing because I'd feel too "on the spot", but otherwise, I'll definately do more convos.
gah! crisis with the textiles - http://identi.ca/notice/2555002
Am off to bed so that i can't continue to make myself more work to do. Night to anyone who is still around :)
I am sure you would enjoy being on a show once you get started. Quite a few people have been worried before their first one but once they get into it everyone has enjoyed the experience. Iremember how long it took us to convince Lou to get over her nerves and join in one.
Don't worry if you go on a show and you can't think of an answer to a question or can't think what to say. That happens to everyone with Mr C and I probably having the two worst examples of being unable to deal with a question. I guarantee after the first few minutes you would have fun.
You and Kathi could do your first show together and that way you both know that there is someone as nervous as yourself..
several weeks and a cupcake wasn't it? :P once you have answered the first question it all feels much better and it really fun :) anyway i am going now...
Hey!
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21216.html
The term they're using is 'Honda/Brawn Racing'.
Liuzzi to make a comeback in 2010? According to grandprix.com he is.
Which tallies up with what was said during the RBR factory tour we went on last year.
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_feature_item.php?fes_art_id=37135
This time, an article by Mark Gallagher of A1 Team Ireland, defending A1 from its recent criticism - taking a slight potshot at the press in the process.
He also disagrees with F1's focus on technology, implying that the focus should be on the best drivers instead.
So he will replace one of the two at Force India? Or be "approached in late summer" by someone else?
More probably the former (specifically, to replace Fisichella) than the latter. If anyone really were interested in Liuzzi, they would've approached him by now. And with names such as Alonso, Kubica, Vettel, and potentially Raikkonen floating around in the 2010 free market, Liuzzi might not get too many offers from the upper teams.
Thanks Journeyer, I really liked that article. I encourage everyone who doesn't get the idea of A1GP to read it and give it a chance. Sure, it has flaws and has made some very sillt mistakes, but it's a great idea and produces some great racing!
Looks like the weather is against them again:
Live updates available: http://directo.thef1.es/tests/
I was saying last night that drivers like Fisi may be ok, but really they are wasting space because they are taking away opportunities from the young fast guys - Liuzzi is a good example of one...
With the wetness, that Williams looks like a shark with those funny wing thingies...
His 'mate' who joined us on our tour spoke about how he had already secured a race seat for McForce India for 2010. I'd imagine he'll be replacing Fisi if this is true?
Hi Everyone
I lost my internet connection last night during show :-(
Hope it was a good one
Any idea when we're doing the Sidepodpanel?
PS...The new Force India is better looking this year :-)
It is tentatively scheduled for the 22nd.
And the 15th.
I know testing is'nt any kind of bench mark, what with them running all sorts of set-ups and loads and stuff, but its good to see Williams towards the top of the time sheets. Maybe this season will be a bit of a shake up, here's hoping
Sweet
Did we ever find out who the 'mate' was?
I think 'me' was in conversation with him (or was eavesdropping!) so he can probably give you more information than I can.
I think he was/is in the lower echelons of motor racing?
Urrrgh. :(
Feel terrible this morning.
Own up! Who gave me this cold?
Steven Roy is usually blamed for stuff round here - so he must have sent you a computer virus :-D
the guys name is buried in a thread on ian's site somewhere. i'll try and dig it out.
Current times, just Ferrari to go out it looks like:
And apparently it's still raining in Jerez.
The rain in Spain falls mainly on Tremayne?
Grrr :D grr.
Found it here.
"mikey" I think was the name of the driver - reckons he was best mate of Liuzzi and was over to see him, He did seem to know a lot of the people in the factory but he doesn't drive for anyone anymore. He did say Liuzzi was guranteed a Force India drive for 2010 - not sure if thats common knowledge?
Oh god. Another red flag incident caused by... a mechanical problem with Vettel's RB5!
Current times, just Ferrari to go out it looks like: {Comment #26}
Fisichella's only done 10 laps, having done the fewest of anyone yesterday. I hope this doesn't mean the Force India's going to be really unreliable again :(
He did say Liuzzi was guranteed a Force India drive for 2010 - not sure if thats common knowledge? {Comment #30}
I didn't know anything about the possibility until yesterday. Grandprix.com may claim it as common knowledge, but I haven't seen the slightest suggestion of it anywhere else. So I'm a bit wary of this rumour... ...possibly because I don't want it to be true.
Who would you prefer in the Force India cars then?
mikey! that's him. excellent work :)
Afternoon all. I've had to resort to the library computers AGAIN since it seems the partition on the hard drive has failed AGAIN when I've only had it back for 2 days. Still, the guy at the shop I got it fixed at says he won't charge me again since it didn't seem to fix the problem the first time, or not permanently at least. He's gonna put it on the workbench tonight and it should be fixed for tomorrow hopefully.
Thanks to the testing feed (09:15), I've just learnt that Force India call Sutil "Rainman". Not sure yet whether that is because he refuses to get on planes or because he cheats at poker.
I always assumed he was called "Rainman" because he seems to do well around a wet Monaco. Did well in Friday practice in 2007 (I think it was '07) and did well in last year's race until Kimi used him as a brake.
Well looking at today's testing photos, he would be in his element - a LOT of standing water on the track.
Fast and fragile. Adrian Newey is turning Red Bull into the new Lotus!
Which Lotus? The Chapman-era Lotus that managed to win titles? Or the Warr-era Lotus that could only manage a handful of wins with Senna?
- The Lotus which Colin Chapman tried to install paper as a firewall on
- The Lotus 49 which was fast and fragile when it started in '67
- The Lotus 72 (?) which failed and killed Jochen Rindt
- The Lotus 78 that was clearly the fastest car and kept breaking down
- The Lotus 80 that was so reliant on Ground Effects it was undriveable
- The Lotus 76 which was way too complicated and abandoned for a 5-year old design
Chapman's mantra was 'add lightness'. He was an absolute bloody genius and trend setter when he got it right, but really got it wrong sometimes and his cars did have the 'fast and fragile' reputation.
http://allenonf1.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/chatter-from-jerez-test/
Mr Allen also mentions the 2010 tyre testing and thinks it is being started now due to the lack of in season testing...
Also on the Allen article - Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, and Red Bull will run KERS in Australia. How odd that BMW, who was the first team to start work on KERS, won't even run it in Australia.
Goes to show just how fast Ferrari and McLaren can develop these things - even if they start later, they have enough money and expertise to catch up and pass teams like BMW on R&D.
Why am I not surprised!!!
What do you all think of Danica Patrick? Hype or not?
that's just crazy. they have to reverse the in-season testing ban.
De La Rosa made a good point (bare with me) on autosport I thought about how the possibility of a reserve driver stepping in may be a massive problem in the actual season. They'll have minimal mileage behind an essentially new car considering the changes this year, and yet they'll have to jump into a car that can be potentially dangerous if they have little experience compared to the rest of the grid.
At least as a reserve driver doing testing throughout the season their mileage with the car and experience stays topped up.
I meant to say IF they needed to replace a driver in the middle of the season, of course, but I'm sure you know what I meant.
i do, and he raises a good point. question is, did his team ask him to raise the issue, in a hope max might read the word "safety" and panic?
Could you argue that if this reserve driver was racing in some other formula and practicing in an F1 simulator then it wouldn't be so bad?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73507
Technical analysis on how Williams came up with the 'Skate fins'.
Quite simply, it's a very clever idea but still against the spirit of the rules. I hope the FIA ban them cause they look silly!
what if a (smaller) team doesn't have a simulator?
plus, driving in another series may mean their unable to be available on race weekends.
I think all the teams have simulators, they've had them for a while now.
Reading that over, I can't help but smile at Williams because the FIA have worded their regulations in such a way that it is technically legal. I agree though, I hope they get banned because the point of the rule change was to stop stupid stuff like this pointing in every direction under the sun.
I have a question. Why is it that most of the drivers being mentioned for USF1 are either nascar drivers or indy car drivers, would you not want a driver who knows how to turn both left and right are there not that many American drivers in European series? As for danica I heard that she doesn't have a passport which was why she didn't do A1GP.
There's Jonathan Summerton... and... and... erm, that's it, I think.
And now for something completely different; the best lawnmower ever!
Oops, that didn't want to work correctly... sorry! Here's the link:
http://www.autocult.com.au/img/gallery/full/WDJ5H32E.jpg
force india?
Even if they all do, it's not mandated anywhere, is it? You can't rely on that when it comes to safety.
I don't know if anyone's picked this up yet but USF1's website redirects itself to 'usgpe.com'.
Remember, testing doesn't ban shakedown runs, so drivers can still do a certain amount of mileage to get used to the car. It's not ideal, but I think it will be enough.
What on earth?! Their site (and PW's blog) vanished into thin air! You would've thought that they already sorted this out. Why back out of your official website?
really?
only i'm pretty confident after watching them, that i could shakedown an f1 car. and i mean that. basically hold the wheel steady and drive it as straight as possible.
i wouldn't dream of racing one though.
not sure if I am repeating somebody here but F1GPUpdate reports they have been informed Barrichello has a deal with Honda/Brackley/Brawn for 2009
:o!
please be true!
the new site is the same as the old site (same contact form and same odd meta data).
i don't think they've backed out. but it is sending confusing signals.
maybe bernie objected to the team having "f1" in the domain name, as they aren't yet signed up to the championship?
How odd. I can't seem to submit my comment.
But why take down the whole website for it? Surely, they could've made a less drastic action?
Given that Bernie knew this was going on since the end of 2006, I don't think so. Bernie would've already voiced any objection to the name even before the launch.
Ah! It has issues with quoting anything with a quotation mark. Note that I removed the quotation marks in Mr C's comment.
it's wordpress trying to be cocky and getting its clever quoting all messed up. it's on the list, but a long way down.
they haven't. they've redirected the domain somewhere else, and thus far have only got two pages back up. give 'em time, they've probably got bigger issues.
but did he know the website would contain a blog?
the USF1 site:
1) logo
2) logo plus countdown to announcement
3) day before announcement the countdown fails to recognize different timezones and after reaching 0:00 keeps resetting to 59 mins 59 secs and counting
4) day after the launch some contents and Peter Windors blog post appear
5) the site slows down and goes to standstill
6) the site disappears
I hope they will do better with their team ...
bodes well for webcam-in-the-factory too :)
I don't see the problem with a blog? How could that determine whether Bernie would want the site down or not? Besides, it's PW running it, it's not like Bernie doesn't know him.
But I tried accessing the URL for PW's blog, and it now gives me a 404, which means that there's nothing left in the USF1 domain.
with bernie, almost certainly.
remember what SC said about restrictions imposed on what could be done with the domain name f1racing.co.uk?
perhaps you are right, but if someone is interested in getting in touch with the team and talk about potential cooperation first place they would go these days is the website ...
it is sad when a US company trying to get in touch with the team emails F1 blogger asking for contact with the team ...
quite. that's because they've now moved it to the new domain (and bernie has no trademark on the term GP). look at the contact form on the new domain. it's the same code as appeared no USF1.com.
they've moved the page, not removed the page.
And would you look at that...
http://www.usgpe.com/news/peters-blog-entry-for-feb-21
You're right!
agreed. but when they do, what happens?
they get redirected to the new domain, and what's the only page that works? the contact page.
there's no need for an exclamation mark, i am sometimes ;)
there was one time when i said... ...
ah no, you're probably right :D
well, the day I received that email (a day after their Speed TV interview) the website did not work at all :-)
fair enough. they are having problems no doubt. i'm not sure they're a big deal in the scheme of things.
on the plus side. go f1 bloggers :)
I think we need to find out, the Quiz way.
Yay. I sooo need to finish my post.
Why would Force India commit to a driver like Liuzzi so early. It doesn't make any sense. They have nothing to gain by signing him a year before they have to. If the McLaren/Merc bits push them right up the grid they could be attractive to far better drivers. I don't buy this at all. It sounds like someone wanted to start a rumour and see how far it would spread.
It was Bob from memory
With KERS, drivers have to be a lot more careful getting out of a car. Is there any footage of a driver getting out yet?
McLaren started work a decade ahead of BMW
The spirit of the rules? This is the piranha club.
True, but then, the cars then were different in significant ways, so they still had much work to do. That may also explain why Red Bull also rolled it out early.
But how did Ferrari do it?
They are mentioned because they are the best knows US drivers. Danica has raced in Europe and did well in the FFord Festival. She didn't do A1GP because they wouldn't pay her a pile of cash.
Piranha club or not, the spirit of the rules still applies. Remember, it was the teams that wanted this rule put in!
Also, it's not like the FIA haven't banned outrageous wings before. Remember BMW's tower wings from France 2007?
France 2006, rather. :)
Last night USF1.com had only an e-mail address and 'Coming Soon'
Ferrari let Magnetti Marelli do it. BMW claim to have started earlier than anyone else but we have absolutely no reason to believe they knew when anyone else started. It is the usual F1 stuff where everyone claims some advantage that can't be verified.
This season BMW and Renault have claimed they will challenge for the title. Honda claim that because they started their car so early they were going to be competitive. Toyota claim they are going to win a race. etc etc. It is all bull. None of it is going to happen and there is no reason to ever believe BMW had a KERS advantage.
The FIA may decide to ban them but as usual the problem is badly written technical regs.
Or the fact that each individual team has double or triple the number of people trying to find ways round the regs than the FIA has to write them
I think BMW WILL challenge for the title. Renault, less likely. I think Brackley/Brawn would've been competitive had Honda not pulled out - they had the car and the expertise. Toyota's pace may give them a race win. It's not bull, it's setting expectations - and for once, there seems to be a good chance they will happen.
That is certainly true but how difficult would it have been to say that nothing can extend more than 5cm above the top surface of the sidepods.
I would love to believe you were right but I have heard all this sort of stuff so often before. I remember Paul Stoddart talking about Minardi being competitive.
It's easier to say in retrospect, but in creating rules, the rulemakers will always miss something. Has there ever been any rule without a loophole?
It's one thing for a privateer who's struggling for sponsorship to say it. It's quite another for a manufacturer - especially those like Toyota and Renault, whose results may determine whether or not they stay in the sport. If they're saying it, it better happen, or else it won't go unnoticed.
No. That is why I have spent so many years complaining about badly conceived and badly written technical regs. Most of the problems in F1 over the year's have their roots in the technical regs.
I expect Renault to go at the end of the season and Toyota not to be far behind them. I think that is why Bernie is so keen to help Brawn and USF1.
I expect one, but not both, to go - if the recession is still in full swing by season's end. If we bottom out and start bouncing back before then, they'll both stay in.
Renault have been given 3 billion Euro by the French government so it is unlikely they will choose to stay in F1. Carlos Ghosn talked about pulling out 2 years ago andd things were a lot better then. Renault pulled out once before because they were making people redundant and didn't think it was right to spend money on F1 while doing that. The people running the company then were serious racing enthusiasts.
I can't see what Toyota get out of F1. They have spent a ridiculous amount of money and achieved absolutely nothing. At least before they could claim that they were doing better than Honda but even that justification has gone. With the exception of Honda they have been consistently the worst of the manufacturer's teams. There is no justification to keep pouring money into Cologne.
And they duly said in 2003 or so that they realize that pulling out of F1 was a huge mistake - since they had to spend much more just to get back in.
Fair point made. But somehow, I don't see Toyota leaving without achieving anything of note. That would be embarrassing, and let's face it, the Japanese hate being embarrassed.
soooo, this went better than expected:
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?buschf1
heehee :)
I love the person who signed as Dale Earndhart jr. I think its funny the people who do that.
Think about the medical crews - it's going to be harder to get access to the driver in the event of needing to extract a driver.
I see Jeff Gordon signed it twice and so did Kyle Busch
More like it is the reason why I call both Ferrari and McLaren the "Dark, Evil Empire" of F1. All the other teams spnd money on a R&D division. McLaren and Ferrari spend money on an Espionage division to steal other teams ideas once the idea reaches a developmental level....
How can anyone that stuck me as "not fast" in a Jaguar can go any faster in a funadmentally slower Force India is beyond me....
Swim! Christine Swim! It's the Great White Williams!
An actual worthwhile petition if anyone is intrested
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/saveCroft/
Do not be silly. Danica has a passport else she would have never won her only race, which was at Motegi in Japan.
The Indycar series has 17 events, of which 7 are decently road courses or street circuits. The "Old Guard" around here would recognise Long Beach, California from its glory days as an F1 Circuit (U.S. Grand Prix West), but the "Anicent Guard" will say that Watkins Glen has lost its manhood from the days when it held the U.S. Grand Prix.
As to Danica, well, sadly, some one needs to teach her to turn right, brake, and shift gears more effectivity to be a threat to the winners off oval tracks, I am afraid...
please don't yell at me for mentioning honda ;) , but it looks like they wont be testing at Silverstone on Thursday.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73510
It says they are still probably going to do a shakedown before the public test next week (which they will hopefully attend). So all this really tells us is that they will be testing between Thursday and the test next week, whenever that starts. it also mentions that it's unknown if it will be at Silverstone or not. any ideas where else it would be? not that i have the time to actually try and go there, was just wondering.
it's because she wanted to be paid and AGR wouldn't ... so she refused to do it!
Frank didn't paint the car red though, did he? ;-)
If they were on a red car they would be legal.
That's what I was trying to get at earlier I guess.
Okay I'm way behind on listening to everything. So I am just catching up with the chat from the other week.
I was interested in one very specific thing about Honda's exit. Gavin and Journeyer were arguing about the reasoning behind Honda leaving. Journeyer was suggesting that it seemed like Honda was quiting because it was politically insensitive to keep an F1 team going when you are laying people off. Gavin suggested that they were leaving because F1 is too hard journeyer countered with the very reasonable point that if Honda had wanted to leave because it was too hard they would have quit before they spent all that money on KERS.
My theory is that Nick Fry coninced them that they were on to a winner with KERS. He over hyped like usual. And then when it came to using it in anger it was nowhere near the step forward they needed. Honda bailed then because it would require piling even more money in to get anything out. And increasing the spend with Nick in charge or even somebody else would not play well back home when they are laying off factory workers.
Lastly on Honda. My guess is that Fry and Brawn turned down Bernie's offer and then Brawn has gone back to Bernie and done the deal by himself.
Your point makes both me and Journeyer correct!
Last night some of us had a skype chat and we wondered why, if Honda are still going to finance the team this year (as it is cheaper than closing down the team) that they didn't just stay in F1 and put the team up for sale?
Surely that would have been a better way of doing things? I mean, they are going to be spending money anyway so the argument that they have pulled out of F1 for economic reasons doesn't convince me at all. They have pulled out because they aren't dominating and they realise that it's too hard and embarrasing to stay in the sport and try to improve, which is the same reasons they had for pulling out the other two times that they have.
Vijay had to approve Merecedes supplying engines to Honda, otherwise they wouldn't have been allowed to:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73513
"I could have objected but I chose not to because it is good for F1. Nobody likes to see a team disappear."
Phew! He also says he think it's only a 1 year deal.
Good find, cheers Dom!
maybe they under estimated the time it would take them to sell the team?
Me was asking why Williams were doing so many pit stop practices. I wonder if, as Gavin was saying, that it might be something to do with KERS. He suggested something about discharging. I wonder if it might be something to do with saving fuel as you go on to the pit limiter?
Well they should have learned from the Super Aguri saga, no?
My point is, they are going to have to spend a lot of money no matter what happens this year, so why not just let the team run as normal (and race with the car that cost so much to develop) and announce the sale of the team instead?
It sure looks a damn sight better than the shambles we have had since December...
I guess they didn't want to finance a full season and still be left with all the liabilities atthe end of .it
It's a very extreme way to sell the team ... but in 2009 it might be the only way that works.
For a company so sensitive to negative publicity though, they've handled this one rather badly :-(
More USF1 news.
They have replaced the non-function website with some words and a new URL.
LINK: http://www.usgpe.com/
What could USGPE stand for?
US grand prix enterprises? (A holding company for the team?)
US Grand Prix Engineering?
Sorry, I just read the eariler comments. Just catching up...
That was my thought. Peter Windsor has revived the old Williams GPE. Of course he was team manager at WGPE.
Ah, you're comment trawling - kinda like when the sound is behind the picture ;-)
US Grand Prix Entertainment?
I swear that any Ferrari racecar is just like my cat. Loves to go outside when it is nice and sunny, but when a single drop of rain starts coming down, all hell breaks loose.
Nice!
let's start us an unfounded rumour then.
usgpe.com is registered with godaddy.com. who's face features on at least three separate occasions on the go daddy homepage?
I think its more like 5
my best guess is encyclopedia, but only because joe already owns that domain:
http://www.gpencyclopedia.com/
If USF1 hires Danica and Dale Jr. I am finished with them. (Sorry, Stuart, I know, I know, I know...) I will do to them what Jack Bauer does to terrorists/freedom fighters.
can i make a random suggestion? how about kubica?
I know, knee jerk reaction on my part, but those two would be selected for all the wrong reasons.
Is Kubica on GoDaddy' payroll? I only see Dale Jr. and Danica on their ads here in the states.
it wasn't that actually. this domain name / site:
http://robertkubica.com/
also happens to be hosted on the same server as usf1.com. it could be a case of domain squatting, but one of the links points to grandprix.com.
So your suggesting Kubica to USf1?
maybe?
I think your mad. ;)
:D
Hummm... I love Robert, but he just doesn't fit. I very much doubt it unless he or his agent were trying to stoke the rumors to get something out of BMW?
See, making up rumors is fun!
I can see it already on the back page on one of your papers:
KUBICA IN SHOCK MOVE TO USF1 UNLESS BMW COUGHS UP THE DOUGH!!!
Is your job application conditional on who the drivers are?
This makes sense now, Sebastian Vettel to BMW now.
Your right... probably not.
Speaking of which, I know they are busy, but I wish they would write me back with something. Knowing their website, I don't know if they got any of my inquires. Speaking of which, I will try again today since they have the third incarnation of their website up.
Are Ferrari wet weather woosies?
:D
rumour has it the colour runs.
hahaha :D
They need surf board fins like WIlliams
have made the tinniest, of tiny fixes to doohickey, that should hopefully resolve the cookie-name-display problem. yell if you find that it persists though.
He always says things like that, then you find out he's turned it purple or something.
I really don't get why they didn't come out to play today. Surely it would have been good practice for wet races
I really hope that we have just as many wet races this year then what we had last year. It made it so much more fun to watch.
I don't see owt different.
oi!
did you have a problem with your email / web address displaying incorrectly in the top left box, the past 12 or so days?
if "yes", i'm hoping that issue has gone away.
And if the answer is "no"
no change.
Mine seems OK
Evening!!
I hear a new mini series coming up?
What's it on??
How about a mini-series about how Sidepodcasts are made? For example, the equipment, editing, webhosting etc?
I am really interested in how you guys put it all together...
That would be a good idea, if we actually knew what we were doing!
thanks you.
you've read all of these posts right?
http://www.sidepodcast.com/category/behind-the-scenes/
just thought i'd mention, in case they'd passed you by.
Episode 1 : Guessing
Episode 2 : Thinking of some schedule that will never work
Episode 3 : Fiddling around with the website, accidently closing it.
Episode 4 : More Guessing
Episode 5 : Last minute searching for news
Episode 6 : Setting deadlines that, lets face it, will never be met
Episode 7 : How you can mess up a live show, which in theory cannot be messed up
Personally I'd quite like 'Classic Tracks' Say circuits which were great but aren't around any more?
I don't see your logic there. Live = dangerous territory. Just ask Murray Walker :D
A lot passes me by! Thanks for the link...
Make sure you put it on the wiki, cos I'll never remember.
They don't forget to put a plug in.
Pray media temple haven't crashed the site.
Capital idea
this is football news, so i have no idea how valid the source might be but:
"Rumours are circulating that Flavio Briatore is looking to persuade co-owner of Queens Park Rangers, Lakshmi Mittal, to arrange a sponsorship deal with Renault F1."
http://www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=145774
Considering I'm not a qpr fan, I can't tell, but the fact it says 'for the fans, by the fans' may mean its likely just to be rumours
127 - Gavin Brown (RubberGoat) said:
Vijay had to approve Merecedes supplying engines to Honda, otherwise they wouldn’t have been allowed to:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73513
“I could have objected but I chose not to because it is good for F1. Nobody likes to see a team disappear.”
Looks like engine suppliers are normally only allowed to supply 2 teams including their own. That being the case, should Honda not have been forced to run BMW engines, and what will happen if another team enters as there are now not enough engine manufacturers ????
Engine suppliers can provide more than 2 teams with engines, like Ferrari did last year. I think the reason this has been brought up was because it was down to Vijay whether he was willing to allow another team interrupt his 'technical partnership'.
If this is a one year deal it'd make sense, with the optional standard engine available next year.
Fair enough on Vijay - Brackley are gatecrashing a sweet deal he has with Mclaren and he must be worried as to how it will affect him...
maybe. we don't know if he was compensated for it, and it there may be other strings attached. possibly relating to tv monies at the end of the year. who knows.
I am sure if money was offered to let it happen he would take it, seeing as he has no sponsors!
:)
and if i were ex-team-honda, and only had a budget for a couple of races, and almost no chance of points - i'd offer him all of my tv monies :)
Engine suppliers can provide more than 2 teams with engines, like Ferrari did last year. {Comment #186}
They can only provide for more than two teams if given special dispensation through unanimous agreement of the teams or the FIA. The latter gave Ferrari approval to supply three teams in 2007 and 2008, while it sounds like the teams may well save the FIA the bother in Mercedes' case.
Vijay is being a good sport on this - hope Force India doesn't suffer overmuch from the goodwill gesture.
agreed.
Who would you prefer in the Force India cars then? {Comment #34}
The two who are already there...
Thanks to the testing feed (09:15), I’ve just learnt that Force India call Sutil “Rainman”. Not sure yet whether that is because he refuses to get on planes or because he cheats at poker. {Comment #37}
Neither, according to the test feed. It agrees with Ollie in that the reason is because Sutil does particularly well when rain starts falling from the sky.
I think all the teams have simulators, they’ve had them for a while now.
force india? {Comment #59}
Force India has a simulator according to grandprix.com, but they say it's really basic.
McLaren, Williams, Red Bull, Renault and Ferrari have simulators as well. I have listed them in estimated effectiveness. BMW and Toyota claim not to use simulators and Toro Rosso doesn't really need one.
Is it based on a ZX Spectrum or an Atari ST?
:D
:D
good luck to klien this year then :)
Phew! He also says he think it’s only a 1 year deal. {Comment #126}
Sounds plausible - does ex-Honda have the money in its pocket to guarantee more than that? Also, might it not want to keep its options open should the Mercedes and the ex-Honda prove fundamentally incompatible with one another?
Is it based on a ZX Spectrum or an Atari ST? {Comment #197}
Unknown. The processor chip could be out of a bag of pre-cut potatoes for all I know*...
* - Though it's probably slightly more sophisticated than that!
ahh, bbc micro, you shoulda said ;)