1381 replies to this topic

[kngrsll]

Not only is he a brilliant driver, he is also a brilliant thinker.



Fuk yah, feel my testing all over you.

oh snap, i can haz f1 time attack?? (right nacho? ) that is a pretty cool idea... even just a drivers money bonus would be cool, like the nascar shoot out thing (even i watch that sometimes)

[Nacho]

Nothing happens in the last 15 laps.....


Certainly nothing like that Hamilton/Kimi fight at Spa.

PS: Why is Massa suggesting that they basically set up a quali with no corresponding race, and give out points for it? You know, besides his generally shitty racecraft.....

[F1]

I'm sure the millions of people who travel from far and wide for the races each year would be psyched to see nothing on Friday and a shorter race on Sunday.

[kngrsll]

I'm sure the millions of people who travel from far and wide for the races each year would be psyched to see nothing on Friday and a shorter race on Sunday.

i never made it to a friday, we always started our trip friday at midnight a few years ago, it was a blast watching the 3rd drives rack up the miles.

[Nacho]

i never made it to a friday, we always started our trip friday at midnight a few years ago, it was a blast watching the 3rd drives rack up the miles.

Fridays are cool. But mostly for the intro to F1 for anyone new going and the feeder/undercard races because most of those drivers have NO business being anywhere near a race car.

[vietlol]

Hamilton's title less credible than mine - Mansell

Former Formula One world champion Nigel Mansell believes that Lewis Hamilton's drivers title from 2008 is much less credible than his, considering the amount of competition each driver was faced with; 18 cars for Hamilton and 26 for Mansell back in 1992.

Mansell said to 'The Sun': "No disrespect to Lewis but what's the point of a championship where you only have 18 or 20 cars running?"

"When I won the title, I beat 25 other cars. That makes Lewis' title 20 percent less credible than mine."

It seems that former F1 champions aren't cutting Lewis any slack, seeing how Niki Lauda also slammed the young champion by saying that he has no personality, and the only interesting thing about him is his pop singer girlfriend.

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

FOTA calls for points system overhaul

By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer Thursday, March 5th 2009, 11:34 GMT

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) has called for an immediate change to the world championship's points system.

Under proposals announced by FOTA at its press conference in Geneva today, the points for a race win would rise from 10 to 12, with nine points for second and seven for third.

Positions four to eight would continue to score in the current 5-4-3-2-1 manner.

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said the move was required because feedback from FOTA's global audience survey asked for a greater gap between the points for first and second places to encourage drivers not to settle for points finishes rather than wins.

"Audiences desire greater championship recognition for race winners and our proposal is to offer greater rewards for the race winner," said Whitmarsh.

The proposal is an alternative to Bernie Ecclestone's demands for a medals system for the top three finishers.

The other immediate change to the sporting regulations that FOTA is proposing is to make each car's starting fuel load public before the race to make the grands prix easier to understand.

The recommendations must be approved by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council before they can be adopted for 2009.

"These proposals will be submitted to the FIA WMSC and we seek their support in their endorsement," Whitmarsh said.

FOTA has also suggested that for 2010 more performance data is revealed to audiences, constructors' championship points are awarded for the fastest pitstops at each event, and race lengths are reduced to 250 kilometres or a maximum duration of one hour and 40 minutes.

But the body has not made any proposals for the future shape of qualifying yet, with no changes expected to the format until at least 2010.

"While the audience surveys had no strong opinions on qualifying, FOTA wish to review the qualifying format to enhance the spectacle," said Whitmarsh.

http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/73562

with points system overhaul, with points for pitstops and shortened races. and leave qualifying alone for fuck sake, you've finally got it right for a change.

[Redliner]

WTF Mansell out of nowhere. Sounds like he's butt hurt.

edit: And wtf shortened race distances & pts for pitstops. Why can't anyone do this shit right

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

WTF Mansell out of nowhere. Sounds like he's butt hurt.

edit: And wtf shortened race distances & pts for pitstops. Why can't anyone do this shit right

unconfirmed yet.. its their proposal so far. at least they've shown that they're willing to listen to the fans on the pts issue

IMO it makes more sense to award pole position and fastest lap points. pit stop points is a bit stupid.

[TimzSI]

unconfirmed yet.. its their proposal so far. at least they've shown that they're willing to listen to the fans on the pts issue

IMO it makes more sense to award pole position and fastest lap points. pit stop points is a bit stupid.

Horrible, horrible ideas. Too much change too quickly. Keep the point system as is, look at the last two years! It couldn't get any better! If you must, add a point for fastest lap in quali (usually Q2) and another for pole. That way if the race winner *really* is the fastest he'll get a maximum of 12. Constructor points for fastest pit stops is GAY, I don't care what happens in the pits unless its something spectacular or bad.

[Nacho]

http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/73562

with points system overhaul, with points for pitstops and shortened races. and leave qualifying alone for fuck sake, you've finally got it right for a change.

I don't know why they're dead set on fucking with quali.

[_R_]

Nick Heidfeld posted the fastest time on the final day of testing at the Jerez circuit, where world champion Lewis Hamilton was involved in a low-speed crash.

BMW Sauber driver Heidfeld was the busiest man on track today, with 123 laps covered despite the circuit being hit by rain in the morning and by gusts of wind most of the day.

Heidfeld's best time of 1:20.052 put him over three tenths of a second ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who also had a productive day in the Ferrari with 112 laps covered.

Hamilton was third quickest, but over a second off Heidfeld's pace, the Briton completing just 58 laps. The world champion lost control of his car due to a sudden gust of wind and ended up crashing backwards and damaging his McLaren's rear wing.

Red Bull's Mark Webber and Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima didn't complete many laps today either on their way to the fourth and fifth fastest times of the day respectively.

Jarno Trulli finished at the bottom of the times for Toyota after managing only 38 laps. The Italian's day came to an early finish after he suffered some damage to his front wing when running over the kerbs.

"That was a short day for us," said Trulli. "We lost the morning to the weather but in the afternoon we had a chance to try out the 2010 Bridgestone slick tyres. The conditions remained difficult because the wind was still strong.

"On one run I picked up some damage to the front wing after running over kerbs. Still, we made it through a number of runs and collected data for the future. As for this season, this test shows that things are going well for us so we can be confident."

Teams will be back in testing action next week in Barcelona.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:20.052 123
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:20.404 112
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.272 58
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:22.219 47
5. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:22.226 54
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:23.119 38

[_R_]

Lewis Hamilton was back at the wheel of the McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 today at Spain's Circuito de Jerez, where this week's five-day test session came to an end with six teams still at the venue.

Today's programme started with the controlled on-track draining of the tank to assess the effectiveness of MP4-24's fuel collection, thereby testing the onboard fuel gauge.

For the remainder of the day, the team worked on tuning the car's set-up, which was fitted with a modified front wing. Flow visualisation paint was applied, streaming from the nose towards the back on the McLaren's left side only.

The session ended prematurely at 15:30 when a sudden gust of wind swept the MP4-24 off the track and into a tyre barrier, the team reported. While the impact was only a mere 44km/h, the car went in rearwards, doing enough to dislodge the rear wing and lightly damage the car's rear end.


With insufficient time to effect repairs before the end of the session, the team opted to finish early in order to commence preparations for next week's four-day Barcelona test.

Hamilton completed 58 laps and covered 257 kilometres today. He set the third-quickest time, 1.2 seconds off today's best run.

Of note, the 2008 rear wing was again in use, further raising suspicion that the 2009 rear wing design seems problematic.

With a sudden gust of wind capable of pushing the car off-track, it remains to be seen if the new McLaren's handling will be raised next week at the final test sessions before the season begins.

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

gust of wind pushes the car off track?

[_R_]

gust of wind pushes the car off track?

[mads]

in for old diaf mclarens

[yonson]

in for old diaf mclarens

but only for hammy

[DrDickAction]

in for old diaf mclarens

but only for hammy

Wouldn't that be cool if louise fell way of the pace and kovi came on like stink...kimi & massa the sequel.

[MrHahn]

gust of wind pushes the car off track?

In for video

[vietlol]

Alonso 2009 WDC

[Nacho]

Lewis Hamilton sent Felipe Massa a bouquet of flowers in the wake of their championship showdown in Brazil last year.

The McLaren driver, whose emotions at winning the title were rivalled by those of the defeated home town hero Massa in Sao Paulo, wanted to make a gesture to his opponent after the highly-dramatic events of the last-lap at Interlagos, the Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport said.

Having celebrated in the cockpit the first victory for a Brazilian driver on home soil since Ayrton Senna, Paulista Massa's joy turned to tear-soaked despair just moments later when his engineer told him Hamilton had moved ahead of Timo Glock in the last corner and therefore won the world championship.

"The frustration comes out of me, and the tears. I am crying inside my helmet - because I lost while winning one of the most special races ever, in my home town," Massa told Britain's Guardian newspaper this week.

Corriere dello Sport said Hamilton, 23, was impressed not only with Massa's strong 2008 campaign, but his sportsmanship in the spotlight of defeat.

"Some things are just written," Massa explained. "I'm not the kind of guy who will blame other people if things don't work out.”

"I also don't have a problem in showing my feelings. That's why I could cry after I lost the championship - but I know that, if it is written, it will happen differently one day. This is how life works," the 27-year-old Ferrari driver said.

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

the man who turned down the offer of "he's going to get it tonight" from that nicole schrwarzignighar (whatever her name is) is giving flowers to another man... did he cup the balls and cuddle afterwards too?

[DrDickAction]

the man who turned down the offer of "he's going to get it tonight" from that nicole schrwarzignighar (whatever her name is) is giving flowers to another man... did he cup the balls and cuddle afterwards too?

the faggotry is colossal...I think hammy should have been an ice skater.

[_R_]

Mike Gascoyne was sacked because he could not work with his colleagues, Force India head Vijay Mallya has revealed.

The Indian billionaire dismissed Gascoyne and team boss Colin Kolles following a disappointing debut season for the team in 2008.

German team driver Adrian Sutil admitted that the ‘atmosphere’ has improved in the wake of the decision, and team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella said it was obvious 45-year-old Gascoyne ‘struggled to work’ well with the team.

In 2006, Gascoyne left Toyota, the team revealing a ‘fundamental difference of opinion’ with the technical boss whose management style earned him the nickname 'the bulldog'.

Mallya told F1's official website that Design Director Mark Smith and Technical Director James Key are now in charge of Force India's car.


"In a way, Mike Gascoyne was a very imposing person,” he explained. “(He) practiced a formula that was 'his way or the highway' and these talented people were not given an opportunity."

Also now working with Force India is McLaren's Simon Roberts, to act as Chief Operations Engineer for the collaboration beginning this year with McLaren Mercedes.

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

well its not the first time gascoyne has had difficulty working as a team... no doubt he has a brilliant mind, but it seems his ego has gotten the better of him too many times.