3530 replies to this topic

[F1]

We need Fernando 'F1 is no longer a sport' Alonso to be the face of F1.

He will be when he's at Ferrari and retires with 8 drivers titles.

[Robert]

He will be when he's at Ferrari and retires with 8 drivers titles.

This could seriously happen.

[vietlol]

This will seriously happen.

[Nacho]

This will seriously happen.

I don't see Ferrari being as dominant with the black suits coming back into power in the team/company.

[vietlol]

They just need a hero to save them.

[mads]

I don't see Ferrari being as dominant with the black suits coming back into power in the team/company.

Ferrari's going on an downward trend... just like in the 90s perhaps still at the top.. but mediocre on comparison to other teams, lets hope right now that's not the case, but the various pit/reliability/management blunders since the departure of team schumi has become more and more evident as time passes.

not mouting tires within regulation time... cmon
and it happend more then once, so it's not like they learned from their mistakes.

[DrDickAction]

Ferrari's going on an downward trend... just like in the 90s perhaps still at the top.. but mediocre on comparison to other teams, lets hope right now that's not the case, but the various pit/reliability/management blunders since the departure of team schumi has become more and more evident as time passes.

not mouting tires within regulation time... cmon
and it happend more then once, so it's not like they learned from their mistakes.

I think everyone in management positions is italian again...def seems like they're getting back to nepotism over merit.

[Shi]

He will be when he's at Ferrari and retires with 8 drivers titles.

blasphemy

[vietlol]

Hey guys its me and Nando, you cant see me but Im out of frame on the right.

[Skyliner]

One thing I like about LH is that he actually seems like a fan of the sport, as well as a driver. Someone like KR, seems like all he does is do his buisness, and go do whatever. Outside of his immediate circle, I don't think he really knows anything about the history of F1.

I agree with Hamilton. Oh, god.

[Redliner]

Sato in shoot-out for '09 STR drive
Tuesday, 02 September 2008 08:37

Former BAR and Super Aguri driver Takuma Sato is to test for Toro Rosso later this month as part of a shoot-out for the seat soon to be vacated by Sebastian Vettel.


Sato, who has been on the sidelines since Super Aguri closed its doors prior to this year's Istanbul race, will be evaluated alongside long-time Red Bull protege Sebastien Buemi, who is a GP2 race winner and an RBR test driver.


Buemi and Sato will test for one day each at Jerez following the Italian Grand Prix.


Toro Rosso is looking for at least one new driver, with rising star Vettel having been snapped up by Red Bull Racing to replace David Coulthard next year.



"The time has come to try and find a suitable replacement for Vettel," said team boss Franz Tost.


"The Jerez test, the last one of the season, will give us an opportunity to evaluate Buemi and Sato at the same time, as they are both possible candidates for a 2009 seat."


Tost said STR was keen to give opportunities to Red Bull-backed talent like Buemi, but couldn't ignore Sato's experience and personality.


"Buemi is an obvious candidate, because not only is he already part of the Red Bull family, he is currently performing well in the GP2 Series," Tost explained.


"As for Sato, he has proved worthy of a place in Formula 1 and would be a good fit with the Red Bull spirit, while his recent F1 experience would be undoubtedly valuable to our team."


Sato spent two seasons at BAR-Honda alongside Jenson Button, scoring one podium finish, before transferring to Honda's new satellite team Super Aguri for 2006 after being dropped by the factory squad.


He impressed greatly against the odds for the small team, but lost his drive when Super Aguri collapsed earlier this year.


"I am delighted to be given this opportunity to get back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, after my season was cut short following the Spanish GP," said Sato.


"It will be especially interesting working with a team that has made so much progress over the course of the year."


Sato's former Super Aguri team-mate Anthony Davidson had also been linked to the STR drive, but the Briton attended last weekend's IndyCar Series race at Detroit to check out alternative opportunities in American racing.


Toro Rosso could yet be looking for two new drivers for 2009, with team co-owner Gerhard Berger saying last weekend that Vettel's current team-mate Sebastien Bourdais needed to do more to secure his F1 future after an inconclusive start to 2008.

Sato-san gets a test drive!

[vietlol]

satoooooo

[AErrorist]

More importantly, Davidson is off to dominate IRL, or at least what remains of the Champ Car part of it. I mean look at Bourdais, spectacular in Champ Car, mediocre in F1. Davidson will just do the opposite I assume.

[_R_]

Kimi Raikkonen has admitted that he is in need of a good result at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix if he is not to see his world title ambitions fade completely.

The Finn has not won since the Spanish Grand Prix in April and, with teammate Felipe Massa fast emerging as Lewis Hamilton's main threat for the championship, talk has already turned to the role Raikkonen may have to play in supporting the Brazilian.

And, on the back of his engine failure in Valencia, Raikkonen is under no illusions that he must score well at Spa-Francorchamps if he is to recover the ground he has lost in the title chase.

"We're on the eve of one of the race weekends I really like," he wrote on Ferrari's official website. "The Belgian GP is one of the highlights of the season and I usually obtain a good result at Spa. I need it more than ever after the results of the last races."

Raikkonen has said that he is not worried by the criticism he has faced in recent weeks, amid questions about his motivation levels, and says he and the team are determined to work as hard as possible to repeat their title success.

"It's a shame to be involved in many negative stories, but these things happen: it wasn't for the first time and it might not have been the last in my career," he said. "You just have to know how to cope with these situations.

"When I was in school it was never nice to get back home with a bad mark. The only thing you could do was working harder for the next time. Today the only thing I can do is to react to this negative situation."

Raikkonen again believes that the qualifying form of the F2008 is the key area where improvements are needed, and he is optimistic that some progress was made in last week's Monza test.

"The tests went really well: we tested some new solutions and the overall package seems to have improved. Having said that, we only know how it will look on the track at the qualifying at Spa, because you never know how much fuel everybody has on board during the tests. I think that it will be a fierce fight; one test might not be enough to change the season's overall trend."

And Raikkonen is adamant that his championship hopes are not over yet.

"Obviously it would be fantastic to win it for the fourth time in a row: considering that I haven't won a race in several months, a success would help me to get back in the race for the title after the disappointment at Valencia.

"Last year we managed to find a good set up for the car during the second part of the season and we won several races. We have to do the same now, because we have to close the gap in the standings. It's not impossible: 13 points are a lot, but last year I was 17 points behind the leader, with two races to go."

the part that worries me the most is he keeps refering to last years points difference... as if he could do it once, he could do it again no problem type thing... *sigh*

[_R_]

With Formula One heading to power tracks Spa-Francorchamps and Monza in successive weekends, recent chatter about engines is only likely to increase as the title battle enters its final phase.

Talk about variations between manufacturers first surfaced when Flavio Briatore and Fernando Alonso both complained their Renault team had lost out by not exploiting the engine freeze as much as other car makers.

And, with the matter being highlighted at Valencia when Sebastian Vettel proved that a Ferrari-powered Scuderia Toro Rosso STR3 was better than a Renault-powered Red Bull Racing RB4, it is clear that engine power is now differentiating teams.

Autosport's technical correspondent Gary Anderson has conducted a detailed examination of speed trap figures from qualifying in Valencia - and it has revealed an interesting comparison of aero and engine performance between Ferrari, McLaren, Toro Rosso, Red Bull and Renault.

Qualifying figures were used as the drivers require a clear lap to achieve maximum performance and therefore other cars do not influence their speeds, as they could be in practice or the race.

The speed trap figures are:

Start/finish line Inter 1 Inter 2 Top speed
Ferrari-Ferrari 245.6 km/h 287.7 308.2 316.1
McLaren- Mercedes 246.0 284.0 307.9 312.2
Toro Rosso-Ferrari 243.8 287.1 308.4 316.4
Red Bull-Renault 239.4 281.1 303.5 313.6
Renault-Renault 242.6 282.0 305.9 312.2

So what do these figures show?

The start/finish line is a measure of traction and horsepower, coming soon after a second gear entry onto the straight.

Intermediate 1 comes at the end of the straight between the first chicane and before the braking zone for the bridge. It is far enough along the straight that the impact of traction upon speed will be negligible and is reckoned a good indication of horsepower.

Intermediate 2 comes at the end of a longer straight, prior to braking for turn 17. The maximum speed figure is taken from the speed trap at the end of the longest straight - that before turn 12. Power and drag are the prime determinants of the speeds at those points.

The start/finish figures suggest the McLaren and Ferrari have similarly excellent traction. Using the same engine as the Ferrari, the Toro Rosso is a couple of km/h slower at this point. Similarly, the sister but Renault-powered Red Bull lags behind the identically engined Renault, suggesting the RB4/STR3 design lacks traction.

Looking at the Intermediate 1 figures, the Red Bull is 6km/h slower than the sister Toro Rosso. At this speed, it would suggest the Renault has a horsepower deficit to the Ferrari of around 30bhp. The Mercedes appears to lie somewhere in between the two.

The Intermediate 2 and the maximum speed figures suggest that the Ferrari and identically-engined Toro Rosso are equally low drag. The fact that the Red Bull reduces its deficit to the Toro Rosso between 303km/h and 314km/h suggests that it was running with less wing than the Toro Rosso to compensate for the power shortfall.

It would appear from this also that the McLaren induces more drag at high speeds than either the Ferrari or the Toro Rosso/Red Bull design.

The Renault is 4.4km/h behind the McLaren at Intermediate 2, but completely negates its deficit to the McLaren by the time they are doing 312km/h, again suggesting it is having to run less wing to compensate for less power.

[_R_]

Ferrari is the most lucratively sponsored Formula One team, but its backers do not get the best value for money.

The new 2008-2009 edition of Formula Money, the business-focused publication, reveals that at $200m per year, world champions Ferrari receive more private sponsorship than any other team.

But Allianz, a Williams sponsor, reportedly receives more mentions in the print media per million dollars spent.

Dutch bank ING, however, paying about $65m for its title sponsorship of the Renault team, got the most press mentions regarding F1 - in 883 separate articles - overall in 2007.

The next most-mentioned F1 sponsors were Vodafone, Fiat, Shell and Williams' title backer AT&T, Formula Money said.

cha-ching!

[Redliner]

I must be a huge geek -- b/c I got hugely excited reading all about drag / traction / power ratios between the Renault/Ferrari powered cars.

[Redliner]

More importantly, Davidson is off to dominate IRL, or at least what remains of the Champ Car part of it. I mean look at Bourdais, spectacular in Champ Car, mediocre in F1. Davidson will just do the opposite I assume.

I'd hope so. I thought JPM was going to do alot better in NASCAR truthfully...

[DrDickAction]

I'd hope so. I thought JPM was going to do alot better in NASCAR truthfully...

How much is the car and how much is him sucking though?

[Redliner]

How much is the car and how much is him sucking though?

NASCAR isn't F1 tho, where technolgy plays a big difference...I'm sure he's had some setup issues getting the last 10/10th in, but still...I would think after 2 years, he'd have atleast won 1 oval by now

[mads]

NASCAR isn't F1 tho, where technolgy plays a big difference...I'm sure he's had some setup issues getting the last 10/10th in, but still...I would think after 2 years, he'd have atleast won 1 oval by now

he wouldve won an oval by now if it wasn't for the tennis "accident"

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

he wouldve won an oval by now if it wasn't for the tennis "accident"

maybe he was playing tennis whilst riding a motorcycle

[mads]

maybe he was playing tennis whilst riding a motorcycle

jorge lorenzo stunt double?

[Shi]

maybe he was playing tennis whilst riding a motorcycle

that sounds like bike polo, lol

[_R_]

Sebastien Bourdais is looking for a strong performance at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix as pressure mounts on the Frenchman as Toro Rosso bosses look to the 2009 line-up. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel bound for Red Bull's senior team in 2009.

"He is now in the situation where he has to prove his talents," commented team co-owner Gerhard Berger.

Impressive in the opening race in Melbourne, 29-year-old Bourdais has subsequently struggled to compete with Vettel.

"Every weekend is going to be different," said the former four-time Champ Car title winner, who finished seventh on debut in Australia, at the time. "If people had asked me to sign for that, I would have."

His tenth place at Valencia two weeks ago, however, was his best result then.

On the same Spanish street circuit, Bourdais was again overshadowed by Vettel, who claimed three points after arguably the drive of the weekend to sixth. The result means Vettel has nine points in the drivers' championship compared with Bourdais' two.

Berger admits that, in order for Bourdais to stay in Formula One, he must impress not only him but also those at Red Bull. "At the end of the day the last word will come from Red Bull, because that is where we get all our resources from," the Austrian said.

for a guy that dominated in Champ Car... this must be a blow not only for him but for Champ Car...