1381 replies to this topic

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

bro, we gonna have to throw down if you gonna be like that

oh?

[MrHahn]

oh?

yFoqRC3Mhx0

Epic

Ron Dennis' reaction says it all - brilliant

[Redliner]

Epic

Ron Dennis' reaction says it all - brilliant

It is.

But it also def. highlights why I disliked FA so much that season I like him again this year though...Go Alonso!

[vietlol]

oh?

he pretty calmly timed it so that lewis got boned

[_R_]

holiday season needs to end and testing needs to start...
at least the cars will start launching in 3 weeks so we can then complain/praise/speculate on what everyone is doing

[doublemeat]

he pretty calmly timed it so that lewis got boned

...and effectively ended his McLaren career and sent himself back to Renault which gave the 09 'Chip to Lewis.

[MrHahn]

...and effectively ended his McLaren career and sent himself back to Renault which gave the 09 'Chip to Lewis.

I knew Alonso was the anti-Christ. Thank you for opening my eyes!

[_R_]

According to La Stampa, Honda F1 has a buyer: Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim Helu. Reports claim he paid the single dollar Honda was asking. He trumped Force India F1 owner Vijay Mallya, who was suspected to want the Honda team only for its tech know-how, and Prodrive's Dave Richards.

When Honda announced its immediate departure from F1 on December 4, it gave the outfit 27 days to find a bona fide buyer who would make a credible 3-year commitment to run the team. If the team did find such a purchaser, Honda said it would assist with finances and technical support. Carlos Slim has the finances and the experience: he is reportedly the second richest man in the world, and his companies are already involved in motorsport.

If the transaction proves to be true, and assuming the team gets funded properly, it will mean a few good things for the 2009 F1 season: it will add another privateer team to the grid, it will let Ross Brawn continue creating the team he's been dying to lead since he was at Ferrari, and it will return the name "Senna" to the grid. Bruno, Ayrton Senna's nephew, is sponsored by Embratel, a subsidiary of Slim's Telmex company, and will certainly replace Rubens Barrichello as the one flying the Brazilian flag.

waiting official confirmation

[_R_]

Speculation linking Fernando Alonso with a future at Ferrari reappeared on Sunday, when Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reported he had a four-year deal signed from 2011.

Alonso had been widely associated with Ferrari throughout last year amid doubts about his future at Renault, but his hopes of a switch were dashed when Kimi Raikkonen took up an option in his contract to extend his stay at the team until the end of 2010.

With Felipe Massa's future at Ferrari also assured, Alonso set about extending his own contract at Renault - with the team and driver having returned to winning ways at the end of the season.

However, respected journalist Pino Allievi has now written that Alonso has a four year deal in place from 2011, with get-out clauses agreed for both sides.

The report also suggests that there is a chance Alonso could be in place as soon as 2010 if Raikkonen does not improve after a disappointing campaign in 2008.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo did little recently to quell speculation about Alonso’s future when asked during a meeting with the press.

When asked about the Spaniard, di Montezemolo said: "He's a fantastic driver, no question. I like him. Particularly in Japan he drove a great race. He's a champion and a team leader, but for the moment we don't have any problem with our current drivers.

"That is why we confirmed officially Massa and Kimi until the end of 2010. Life is long and in the future we will see. But for the moment we don't have any grey areas regarding drivers for the next two years."

A Ferrari spokesman declined to comment on the Gazzetta report, but told news agency Reuters: “We can only repeat that we have two drivers signed to the end of 2010."

[Robert]

Can hardly wait for the mayhem and picardary.

[_R_]

Kawasaki is poised to withdraw from the MotoGP World Championship with immediate effect, autosport.com has learned.

According to sources, the Japanese manufacturer is set to make an announcement regarding its plans for 2009 on Monday, January 5, when it is expected to confirm details of its withdrawal from the premier motorcycle racing class.

It remains unclear why Kawasaki is quitting, though both the global economic crisis and a lack of results are likely to have been factors in the decision.

The news is a blow to MotoGP's organisers, who will have the number of factory teams reduced to four at a time when the rival World Superbike Championship has gained another two in Aprilia and BMW.

Kawasaki's imminent withdrawal will leave Marco Melandri and John Hopkins without a ride for next season. Melandri had hoped to revive his career with the team after a catastrophic season with the factory Ducati squad in 2008.

"I have to wait and hear some words, as at the moment I hear nothing," Melandri told autosport.com.

"If it is true, then I can only hope that when I wake up on January 1st it is all a nightmare."

Kawasaki returned to the premier MotoGP class in 2003 with bold plans to become regular contenders, but has so far failed to record a victory in the premier class.

The closest the team came were three second places in three years with Randy de Puniet (Motegi 2007), Shinya Nakano (Assen 2006) and Olivier Jacque (Shanghai 2005).

Kawasaki secured big-money signing John Hopkins from Suzuki at the beginning of 2008 and it was hoped that this would trigger an upturn in results. But the American was hampered by injuries and both he and teammate Anthony West struggled with the inconsistent handling of the ZX-RR.

In the end, fifth places for Hopkins (at Estoril) and West (at Brno) were the best the team could manage.

Nevertheless, Kawasaki was set to enter 2009 with optimism, having landed former GP-winner Melandri, alongside the fired-up Hopkins to lead the development of the ZZ-XR in the new one-make tyre era.

Kawasaki's withdrawal will be the fourth time a Japanese manufacturer has pulled out of a major motorsport category in recent weeks. Honda announced in early December that it was quitting Formula One, while Subaru and Suzuki confirmed later in the month that they were stopping their programmes in the World Rally Championship.

[Nacho]

waiting official confirmation

Reports that the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has or will buy Honda's Formula One team have been denied.

The Telmex racing team, owned by Slim's telecommunications firm and involved in F3 and other series, said in a statement that Slim "has not bought, nor is negotiating to buy" the Brackley based outfit.

Slim's Telmex said the reports, first carried by the Italian newspaper La Stampa, are thus "baseless and completely false.
"

Meanwhile, in the Mexico City-based newspaper Reforma, Slim's son Carlos Slim Domit also denied the reports linking Telmex with buying Honda.

[_R_]

finally some news...

Five weeks after departing the scene as an F1 team owner, Gerhard Berger has issued a bleak assessment about the economic health of the sport.

The former 50 percent owner of Red Bull's second team Toro Rosso told the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick that he remains passionate about the sport.

"I had to see Formula One as a business, and I do not want a business in an environment that is unhealthy," he said.

"F1 is being affected not only by the global financial crisis: our sport's crisis is also home-made."

Berger explained that he 'cannot afford' to run a team, and insists that Red Bull also wants to have full ownership so it has a 'free hand' in the running of its teams.

However, he also said at the Austrian ski resort at Kitzbuhel: "What is being done now with budgets of $300 million per year can also be done with 30 million, when reason returns.
"

Berger said that F1 emerging from the current situation is going to require "a lot of Bernie Ecclestone's skill."

"Formula one has moved onto thin ice," Berger insists. "The organisers of the traditional tracks can't afford it any more. The high costs mean that it can't any more be covered by the normal sponsors."

"With F1 at this level, the manufacturers will only keep on a friendly face for so long."

He thinks he headed for the exit at 'the right time'.

"And for 2009," Berger added, "Toro Rosso will have a good and fast driver in Buemi."

So I guess Buemi is in... and there need to be some SERIOUS cuts in F1 budgets

[_R_]

Sebastian Vettel insists he is happy to be moving up to Red Bull's senior team in 2009.

At the Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso outfit this year, the German youngster was arguably the find of the season, and he subsequently admitted that driving for the works Ferrari team would be a 'dream'.

But in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, the 21-year-old concedes that his promising career is nevertheless on the right track.

"It has always been my goal to one day drive for Ferrari," Vettel told the German newspaper, "but continuity is also really important and that's why I am with Red Bull."

A protégé of his countryman Michael Schumacher, however, Vettel does not attempt to hide his affection for Ferrari, with which the great German achieved five of his record seven world titles.

Vettel said it is only possible to become world champion "if you sit in one of the best cars."

"And Ferrari knows how to build them. They will be right at the front all of the time, because their resources are on a completely different level to ours at Red Bull."

He answered 'I don't know' when asked if Schumacher will be recommending him to Ferrari decision-makers like Stefano Domenicali and Luca di Montezemolo.

"But I hope I will be making my own luck," he said.

Vettel is moving up on my favorite drivers list... seeing him act off the grid, he seems like a cool kid

[_R_]

Sir Jackie Stewart, a true veteran of the Formula One scene, has criticised Bernie Ecclestone's iron rule of the sport.

69-year-old Stewart, a triple world champion, former team owner and long-time ambassador and commentator, is often stridently disparaging of Max Mosley, believing the FIA President should step down.

But the Scot also believes Ecclestone, F1's Chief Executive, wields too much power and is therefore an obstacle to the sport's need to adapt to difficult times.

Stewart hails the billionaire's feat in making Formula One what it is today. "But having done it, he now rules and nobody is up for taking on a battle with him," he told The Times.

Stewart also thinks Ecclestone is not planning for the sport's future beyond his own rule.

"He has been so used to total control that if you look at his structure you have to ask yourself 'is there a successor?' and you would say 'no'.

"That is wrong. The commercial reality has to be recognised... and there has be continuity that the ageing process makes necessary," he said.

Stewart also thinks Ecclestone, 78, and Mosley are too closely aligned, despite the impression earlier this year that they fell out amid the sex scandal.


"They haven't looked after the house properly and the foundations are built on just this two-man working relationship," said Stewart.

He describes the loss of North American races on the Ecclestone-penned calendar as 'ridiculous', and dismisses the Briton's call for a medals-style scoring system as nonsensical.

"The era of big change is now essential because the sport has grown larger than either the governors or the commercial rights holders. And that's just a fact," Stewart said.

"It has taken too long to achieve the things it should have achieved years ago and that other sports have long ago matured to, and other sports have prepared themselves more fully for the opportunities that have come their way."

while reading this, for some reason i could hear Stewarts voice saying everything

[Redliner]

Vettel is moving up on my favorite drivers list... seeing him act off the grid, he seems like a cool kid

Why do they call Vettel Shumacher's protege?

Wouldn't Massa be Schumacher's protege? I've never heard any connection between Vettel and Schumacher other than the fact that he's German. Schumacher has been actively coaching Massa since 06...

[yonson]

/me starts chanting...

LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE
LYNCH ECCELSTONE

old crusty fuctard is ruining our favorite sport

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Ferrari to launch new car next week

By Jonathan Noble Monday, January 5th 2009, 16:12 GMT

Ferrari will become the first team to launch their 2009 car after announcing that their new challenger will be unveiled on Monday, January 12.

The reigning constructors' champions will reveal their new car at their Fiorano test track next Monday morning, with Felipe Massa tasked with driving it for the first time later in the day.

Ferrari's launch kicks off a frantic fortnight of car unveilings, with Toyota following on Thursday 15th, and McLaren the day after.

Renault, Williams and BMW Sauber will then unveil their machines the following week.

I'm willing to bet there will be a B-spec F2009 at a later date with KERS integrated into the design, and the one they'll unveil next week will have been designed without KERS implementation.

[_R_]

Ferrari are on course to bring their pitstop light system back into action this year, the team have confirmed, after making modifications to prevent a repeat of the dramas they suffered in 2008.

The Maranello outfit opted to use a more traditional lollipop system in the final three races of last season after a mistake in the Singapore Grand Prix resulted in Felipe Massa being released from his pitstop while the fuel hose was still attached.

It is understood that Ferrari's light system had been switched to manual mode during the safety car period in Singapore - which meant Massa's pitstop release was handled directly by a member of the pit crew rather than when the fuel hose had been released.

That blunder cost Massa valuable points at a time when he was locked in a tight battle with Lewis Hamilton for the championship. In the end, he lost out on the crown by just one point.

At the time, Ferrari said they retained faith that the light system was better than using a lollipop – but felt it would be better for the pit crew to revert to a more traditional setup.

Team principal Stefano Domenicali said after taking the decision to rest the light system: "In this moment we need tranquillity and therefore we prefer to go back to the old system."

Following the season, Ferrari conducted a full analysis of what went wrong in their pitstops this year and, following procedural and software changes, they are now confident that they have put in place failsafe systems that will prevent a car being released early.

A Ferrari spokesman told autosport.com: "We can confirm our plan is to use the pit light system again. We will test the modifications soon and then see how we progress from there."

Ferrari's team manager Luca Baldisserri told Italian newspaper La Stampa that the team were confident they had eradicated any problems with their pitstop lights.

"We've analysed the mistakes made in 2008 and we've improved the system," he said. "An electronic program will prevent the car from leaving when the fuel hose is still attached."

here we go again...

[Polish]

here we go again...

I miss you guys

[yonson]

I miss you guys

Just post here more

[Robert]

I'm willing to bet there will be a B-spec F2009 at a later date with KERS integrated into the design, and the one they'll unveil next week will have been designed without KERS implementation.

Have you heard anything else about Ferrari's KERS system? I know they have been struggling.

[DrDickAction]

Just post here more

[kngrsll]

finally, some news! it will be interesting to see what the cars finally look like... of course they may not look anything like that by australia

looks like F1 is about to really go through a growing phase... may be bad, may be good, i dunno...

[RedVVing19]

Cant wait for next week for a bunch of cars to be unveiled