1381 replies to this topic

[yonson]

that is fucking HIDEOUS!

[kngrsll]

ugh...

[mads]

i see bmw rocking the walrusnose again

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Takuma Sato was the fastest man out on track as preparations for the 2009 Formula One season began at Circuit de Catalunya. At Honda F1 Bruno Senna enjoyed his Formula 1 debut, while Lucas di Grassi enjoyed his first laps for Honda and Giedo van der Garde with Renault F1.

The first of a three-day test clearly showed the aerodynamic changes for 2009. BMW Sauber F1 and Williams F1 were the only teams running the 2009 front and rear wing in Spain. In the morning most teams were still running on grooved tyres to complete their installation runs but around the end of the morning every team switched to slicks. Slicks will be introduced again in 2009.

The times set by the drivers couldn't say much about the quality of the drivers or cars. Most teams switched between slicks and grooved tyres, but even with 2008 and 2009 rear wings. At Scuderia Toro Rosso the team completed its laps with Takuma Sato and Sebastien Buemi who are both in a fight to win a seat at the team for next season. Both drivers completed their laps in the 2008 chassis.

At the Renault F1 team Giedo van der Garde joined Nelson Piquet in the afternoon. The Dutchman earned his day of testing by winning the World Series by Renault championship this season. Van der Garde was pleased with his day of testing and will continue testing on Tuesday.

not much to read into it except Taku > Buemi

hopefully he gets the STR seat in '09

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

of course.. here are the times for the day

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Sato Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.763 121
2. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:21.071 117
3. Wurz Honda (B) 1:21.198 77
4. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.417 65
5. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:22.038 93
6. Paffett McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:22.235 47
7. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:22.341 56
8. Loeb Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:22.503 82
9. Piquet Renault (B) 1:22.560 80
10. Klien BMW-Sauber (B) 1:22.883 53
11. Hulkenberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:23.467 116
12. Liuzzi Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:23.794 86
13. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:23.832 88
14. Gene Ferrari (B) 1:24.117 32
15. Senna Honda (B) 1:24.343 39
16. van der Garde Renault (B) 1:24.908 27
17. di Grassi Honda (B) 1:25.512 48

All Timing Unofficial

[F1]

[Redliner]

These are 2008 cars right?

Gawd they're so ugly...I can't get over it.

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

i'm already over the shock of the '09 spec look.. it's already starting to grow on me from certain angles..

[F1]

i'm already over the shock of the '09 spec look.. it's already starting to grow on me from certain angles..

it looks classic from the back. I wonder what percent of the field will lose their front wings in turn 1 at each race.

[Redliner]

it looks classic from the back. I wonder what percent of the field will lose their front wings in turn 1 at each race.

Nope..not feeling it. I hope it happens soon

I was hoping the cars would look like the 00/01 generation of cars...

[yonson]

:barf:

These things are FUGLY

[HighTachPres]

LOfuckingL

no

[Nacho]

of course.. here are the times for the day

Mother fucking SATO!

[DrDickAction]

Nope..not feeling it. I hope it happens soon

I was hoping the cars would look like the 00/01 generation of cars...

These look great...the new rear wings are completely out of proportion. Really awful looking.

[_R_]

Sato out of no where...

I'm kinda hoping that Senna gets a seat... after watching that 5th Gear thing, he seems like a cool guy...

[mads]

honduh's looking pretty good.

[vietlol]

honduh's looking pretty good.

its not like their 2008 car had any fancy aero anyway

[More&Faster]

if honda doesn't win races this year they need to kill themselves. it's shameful how bad they are.

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Hamilton to demo McLaren at ROC
Tuesday, November 18th 2008, 08:42 GMT

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton will demonstrate his McLaren Formula One car ahead of the Race of Champions next month.

The Briton, who will not be taking part in the main event, will complete a run in the championship-winning MP4-23 before he takes on another challenge.

Hamilton will then be racing triple Olympic cycling gold medallist Chris Hoy around Wembley Stadium.

The duo will not be using the machinery, as Hamilton will race a Mercedes road car while Hoy uses his bicycle on a parallel track constructed over the turf of the stadium.

"This is going to be something very special," said Hamilton. "I've done F1 demonstration runs away from race tracks before, but Wembley Stadium's completely different, the atmosphere is going to be crazy.

"It's going to be a great way to end a fantastic year, and I'm really looking forward to putting on a show to thank the fans from all over the world and my fantastic British fans for all their support. I get so much from the fans and this is a great opportunity for me to give something back.

"I will be leaving Wembley prior to the actual Race of Champions final in order to make it to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, but putting on the demonstration is a great opportunity for me to give something back."

Hoy, who won three golds at the Beijing Games, admitted he was also looking forward to it.

"I can kick out about 2-1/2 brake horsepower so that's not going to quite match his car but I think they'll make the race as close as possible and I'll be giving it absolutely everything. I'm really looking forward to it," he said.

what a fucking homo.. going all the way to make an appearance at RoC only not to race...
if he was really doing it for the fans he would stay and race and blow off the awards ceremony.. im pretty sure his fans would rather see him race top talent in different machinery than see him in a tux receiving some award on stage..

[_R_]

McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa is to drive for the Force India Formula One team today and tomorrow at the Barcelona circuit.

The Spaniard, who on Monday worked for his own team, confirmed on his website that he will switch to Force India for the remaining two days of the test.

Force India announced last week a technical partnership with McLaren and Mercedes for 2009, although the British squad said they would not impose drivers on the Silverstone-based outfit.

Force India boss Vijay Mallya said before the McLaren deal was announced that both Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil would stay on at the team in 2009.

Spanish media said on Tuesday that de la Rosa has already signed a deal to race for Force India in 2009, but a McLaren spokesman told autosport.com that the deal was just for the two-day test.

[_R_]

Christian Klien says the BMW Sauber he tested yesterday at Barcelona is the ugliest Formula One car he has ever seen.

"I never saw such a sexy car," joked Klien after testing. "It looks very, very new to everybody.

"To me, for the moment, it's the worst (looking) Formula One car I have ever seen. It just doesn't fit together.

"But we will get used to it. There will be a lot of modifications until the first race in March."

All eyes were on the German squad yesterday, when the team ran with an hybrid 2008 car fitted with a 2009 aerodynamic configuration, designed to provide a lot less downforce.

The very wide front and the narrow rear wing did not make for an attractive car, although Klien admitted driving it was a different matter.

"It drives quite well, actually. As you saw, the laptimes are quite good already," the Austrian added. "There is still a few improvements coming over the winter. Basically it's quite a lot less downforce but with the slick tyres it compensates quite a lot.

"Especially in the slow-speed corners you get much more grip with the slick tyres. High-speed corners are a bit more tricky. But the main problem today was the cold temperatures."

The BMW Sauber tester said it was still very hard to bring the new slick tyres up to working temperature.

"These are the first slick tyres basically. Now I'm not sure if they have some improvement for these tyres but the warm-up doesn't seem to be very good, even in summer time," he said.

"Slicks is for sure the right direction. The race car looks better on slicks. It's also important to change regulations after a few years to give some other teams an opportunity and to keep the speeds down. Now we will lose maybe two seconds."

The Austrian also said he is not expecting the regulation changes to allow drivers to run too closely to each other.

"Even with these aerodynamics it's still not possible to drive right behind another car. We will see in the first few races. It's more of a problem to not knock off the front wing at the first corner.

"This morning we were not sure we could drive in the last chicane, where the kerbs are quite high. But it's not a problem actually."

[Shi]

Hamilton is such a homo for the RoC thing

[yonson]

Hamilton is such a homo for the RoC thing

[F1]

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

day 2:

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:19.751 70
2. Sato Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.017 79
3. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.034 48
4. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:20.223 99
5. Paffett McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.340 31
6. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:21.521 76
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:21.525 113
8. Button Honda (B) 1:21.770 110
9. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:22.073 58
10. di Grassi Honda (B) 1:22.283 110
11. Piquet Renault (B) 1:22.348 85
12. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:22.425 127
13. Gene Ferrari (B) 1:22.772 31
14. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:22.945 81
15. van der Garde Renault (B) 1:23.250 37
16. de la Rosa Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:23.499 86

All Timing Unofficial

sato still with a strong showing.. i hope STR really considers opening up a seat for him...