2010 Formula 1 thread
 

Only 10 days to the first race of the 2010 season. Who do y'all like? I'm feelin' pretty giddy myself.

Sad news that USF1 had to drop out though. I have to agree with Mark Webber that it is a sad state of affairs that Campos and USF1 never even made it to testing.

My ticket for the Melbourne race is booked as it has been every other year since the race has been in Melbourne. Can't wait!

I was just thinking about looking into a ticket for Montreal. It's only 600mi. I could drive that in my sleep. :)

If you have never seen F1 live, you should. Love the sound of an F1 revving at 18000 rpm.

im ready

I'm ready to see Schumi kick some ***.

I hope he does!

Mercedes is really downplaying their performance in testing so it's hard to tell how fast they will be right off the bat. I think they'll be pretty quick and he'll win early on.

Never been to a live race, but I certainly enjoy my Sunday mornings (or Sat nights) on SPEED TV watching the REAL "open wheel" guys do their thing. I've enjoyed watching Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren the last couple of years -- hope they don't start this season so far behind that they can't run for a championship.

Disappointed to hear about the US Team -- figured it would take them a few years to start finishing mid pack, but sounds like they didn't even make it to the first race -- too bad.

Anyway, I'm ready to offset my weekly "fendered car series" with the F1 boys.

ssf

Holy Crap!

Now I know of TWO NASCAR fans who also watch F1! :tup:

Very excited about the new season. I think Ferrari are going to be on top. I also think the new teams will be racing amongst them selves with much slower lap times...but that all the returning teams will be pretty close.

That is so weird. I get (and give) **** from my sister who is a NASCAR fan. :)

So If I were to go to Montreal should I get a grandstand seat or just GA?

^^ Section 11 is where you want to be, end of the straight, you see the first turn, and the hairpin after... $450-$500 a seat per day.. but it is the best.

I am a Ferrari whore, only team i have ever followed, only team i will ever follow, I am pleased to see Michael back, but as the traitor that he is, for going to the enemy i probably wont follow him at all.


as of right now, the car with most development is the Ferrari, started its development in May 2009 while the other teams where competing for points... similar to what brawn GP did and won them the championship.

The best driver on the grid as of THIS MOMENT.. is at Ferrari.... This will be a good season.


sucks for USF1 but it was expected... it was a small team of people, no real knowledge on f1 cars, and they where trying to develop the car entirely on CAD simulation. that never works out well. They have not been allowed to enter for the 2011 season either, so now are trying to merge with Stephen GP.

I can't believe that USF1 dropped the ball like that. Even Campos (now HRT F1) got their act together and they now have a car (the Dallara looks exactly like an Indy Car)
http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/phot...KYsDmE%2FsE%3D

Yep can't wait. :tup:
Coming from the UK I will be supporting Hamilton and Button. But I can't wait to see how Schumi does, always liked him too (I eventually forgave him for the Damon Hill incident)

why is he a traitor? there was no room for him in ferrari. both alonso and massa already have secured their seats for the next few seasons and likely won't go anywhere anytime soon. ferrari tried to lobby for running a 3rd car for him but the rest of the teams refused. so it was either to drive for a different team or not return at all.

Ferrari also forced him out to make way for the almighty Kimi, who never really had his heart in the game to begin with. I can see him maybe wanting to punish them for that. :)

[QUOTE=Chupacabra;428717 The best driver on the grid as of THIS MOMENT.. is at Ferrari.... This will be a good season.


[/QUOTE]

Who might that be?

Alonso.

Will he have to be second fiddle to Massa?

I doubt it. Massa may have blistering speed but I think Alonso is the better driver overall. He's more like Schumacher in that he can be super fast and mistake free, and he is great with the engineers for developing the car.

The combination of Schumacher & Ross Brawn is going to be hard to beat.

<<<<<<<<<------------------ Lewis :tiphat:

Yeah. I'm pretty sure when Schumi was going to sub for Massa Ross Brawn came to him and whispered, "wait...". They are a killer combination... awesome driver and awesome race engineer... like Johnson/Knaus on the NASCAR side... unbeatable when the equipment is 100%.

I just hope that Hamilton and Button don't butt heads later in the season. Team chemistry is really important and I just hope the champs from the last two years can coexist.

On another note, I heard with no refueling they are looking to get tire changes down to under 4 seconds :eek:

They have been doing them in the 3 second range so far and are aiming for 2 second bracket.

Fast for sure but when you have a tire changer on each corner and the whole car is lifted at once its not really that crazy.

I've read somewhere that Williams hit sub-3s in practice, whether anyone can hit that under pressure during a race is anyone's guess, but it'll sure be fun to watch! Gonna miss Heikki driving off with the fuel hose attached though...funny how it happened in front of the Iceman last year.

Yea, its not like they have 5 lug nuts to hit!:icon18:

you mean this

Yeah, they have it easy with only one lug to hit and they are already in place before the car arrives.

As a Ferrari fan, seeing Michael in another car is not good. I know its not his fault and he would have probably run for Ferrari if he could but since he doesn't he remains a traitor for now. Plus I know how good the guy is, and when Ferrari is not winning i start getting depressed.



Pit stops should be 1-2 seconds faster than DTM stops, which in itself is impressive... That brings a total pit stop to 23-25seconds (includes the drive down pit lane)... It is not going to play as much in the overtaking game, but we will have to see...

I have a feeling that because of the no fuel loads... the first 1/3 of the race will be pretty bland, as cars are trying to burn through weight and keep the car on the race... the last 1/3 with light cars will be incredible.... I hope.

what i'm actually pretty concerned about is all the extra wear and tear on tires and brakes that they may not last the entire race. i hope we don't see more accidents and retirements due to that :ugh2:

I read an article where tires were a concern due to the rule changes this year. The front tires are narrower this year by 20 mm (0.78 in) and with less rubber to the ground they will be under greater stress. Bridgestone modified their constructions for 2010 to accommodate the change so lets hope it is a change for the better.

ALONSO: “VERY COMFORTABLE FROM DAY ONE”


Sakhir, 11 March – Fernando Alonso took part in his first FIA media conference as a Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver this afternoon, sitting alongside the man who took the Prancing Horse to so much success over the years – Michael Schumacher. “The racing. racing again,” said the Spaniard enthusiastically when asked what he was most looking forward to this weekend. “I have driven the car all through winter testing, but that is just preparation and now we can finally go racing.” As for his switch to Ferrari, Fernando was equally positive. “When you change team, you need to adapt to the people and their work philosophy and pre-season that has all gone great. I felt very comfortable right from day one to now and we are well prepared and I am ready for the fight.”

As for the results of testing, Alonso did not consider them too important. “We are not in a position to compare times or to make predictions. We can say that four teams, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari can all be favourites to win here and then there are other teams like Force India and Sauber who could also have some good races. My goal is to win the championship, but I want to be World Champion in November, not in March. It will be a very hard job. I have spent all winter getting ready and I have also waited a long time to come to Ferrari, so it has all been about preparing for this moment and I think we are in a position to fight for the wins.”

Fernando felt the rule changes in force for the first time this weekend are a good thing. “I am happy with them, as it represents a new challenge for all of us – the engineers, the teams and the drivers. Any change is welcome as it offers us the possibility of discovering new elements to our sport. But we need to give it time to see if it produces spectacular or boring races.”

Alonso is also looking forward to racing against Schumacher again. “It is good for all of us in the sport that he is back,” he said, as the German leaned over to give him a hug! “What Michael has done in the sport will be hard to repeat, with all his titles, wins and pole positions. Winning a race or the title with Michael on the track will give it an extra something.”


ALONSO: “VERY COMFORTABLE FROM DAY ONE” | European Motor News

MASSA: “GREAT TO BE BACK”

Sakhir, 11 March – Today’s FIA press conference was a star-studded affair, with the returning Michael Schumacher, both McLaren drivers and both Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers sharing the podium. In a way, Felipe Massa was also “returning” since his Budapest accident last year. “It’s great to be back after eight months, back to racing again,” said the Brazilian. “And I think we are starting well after going in the right direction after winter testing. Driving has been my job for so many years that I am really happy to be back.” With a history of sometimes making a slow start to the season, in terms of picking up points, Massa is determined to do things differently this year. “It will be vital to finish these early races and to get points which will be very important come the end of the year. Reliability is the key to achieving this and we have made a good start as we were able to complete a lot of kilometres in winter testing.”

Asked about the lack of refuelling and the change to qualifying, Felipe was optimistic about the effect of the rule changes. “As we have not had a race yet with the new rules, I can’t say if I prefer this system or the one from last year. But it is good to have a new challenge, with different elements to focus on.” The Ferrari man was also in favour of the new points system, which sees a bigger gap between winning and coming second. “I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “Because winning is the most important thing in any sport and so the winner should be rewarded more, which is just what this bigger points gap achieves.”

MASSA: “GREAT TO BE BACK” | European Motor News

Watched the 2nd Friday practice today -- ASSUMING folks were "starting" to show their real speed (not sure that was necessarily the case) both Mercedes teams seem to have most of the speed.

Anyone catch the piece of the air intake on the front top of the McLaren chassis? Allegedly is to pull air in on the corners and route it to the wing for down force, but the driver can "close it" on the straight away to reduce the down force -- since they are using a driver controlled "balloon type device" to close the intake, it apparently doesn't count as an "adjustable downforce device".....interesting...

Can't wait to catch quals tomorrow morning!

I was at the infamous 2005 USGP, and even though it ended up being a 3-team testing session, it was still pretty cool. No refueling should make it interesting.

Vettel Rocked quali. Can't wait for the race tomorrow.

You know, here I sit way TOO early on a Sunday morning asking myself, what in the world would cause someone to get up this early on a weekend morning. OF course, as I'm about halfway thru my first cup of coffee and the Speedvision bubbas are getting us ready for the race -- it all seems worth it!

Did have to hurry thru the F1.com Re-registration process so I could re-activate my Live Scoring service -- that was a little painful......

OK, so let's race -- always love the first one of the year...