F1 Thread

[Rabbit]

True, but not this time, they announced it today: http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/07/29/official-bmw-to-leave-f1-at-end-of-2009/

If they go to sports cars, it makes a lot sense.  Why pay F1 prices for little innovation when you can cut costs, develop road-relevent technology for the future, and still reach a large audience with the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

[Rabbit]

Epsilon Euskadi (Le Mans team) want to buy BMW-Sauber: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77404

Now, this is going to sound really dumb if wrong, but isn't Team US F1 planning being based out of Epsilon Euskadi's shop in Bilbao?  Even if they run the F1 team out of BMW-Sauber's old facilities, they'll still have easy access to US F1's stuff...

[First to Last]

I thought US F1 were going to be based out of Charlotte. Anyway I'd like to see Epsilon Euskardi in F1. Hope they run that all black scheme they run in LMES.

[Rabbit]

Sort of.  They plan on having two bases.  Some real work will go on in Charlotte, but for the most part, Bilbao will be where they really operate from.  Charlotte, to me, seems to be for their wind tunnel, building the cars in winter, filming a reality TV show for SPEED, and giving tours to fans.

Agreed on Euskadi...gorgeous car.  Horribly slow, though.

[First to Last]

Here's my predictions on how the grid will look next season

Brawn GP
1. Jenson Button
2. Robert Kubica

Red Bull Racing
3. Mark Webber
4. Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari
5. Kimi Raikkonen
6. Felipe Massa

McLaren
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Nico Rosberg

Williams
9. Kazuki Nakajima 
10. Nico Hulkenburg (R)

Toyota
11. Jarno Trulli
12. Timo Glock

Renault
14. Fernando Alonso
15. Romain Grosjean (R)

Epsilon Euskardi (or whoever takes over BMW)
16. Nick Heidfeld
17. Bruno Senna (R)

Force India
18. Adrian Sutil
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi

Scuderia Torro Rosso
20. Sebastian Buemi
21. Jaime Alguersuari (R)

US F1
22. Heikki Kovalainen
23. John Summerton (R)

Campos Grand Prix
24. Pedro de la Rosa
25. Vitaly Petrov (R)

Manor Grand Prix
26. Max Chilton (R) 
27. Adam Carroll (R)

[Rabbit]

I'll give it a go...

Brawn GP
1. Jenson Button
2. Heikki Kovalainen (he's got experience at playing sweetheart)

Red Bull Racing
3. Mark Webber
4. Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Robert Kubica

McLaren
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Nico Rosberg

Williams
9. Kazuki Nakajima
10. Nico Hulkenburg

Toyota
11. Jarno Trulli
12. Timo Glock

Renault
14. Nick Heidfeld
15. Romain Grosjean

Force India
18. Adrian Sutil
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi

Scuderia Torro Rosso
20. Sebastian Buemi
21. Jaime Alguersuari

Team US F1
22. Alex Wurz
23. John Summerton

Campos Grand Prix
24. Pedro de la Rosa
25. Bruno Senna

Manor Grand Prix
26. Rubens Barrichello
27. Max Chilton

I'll leave Epsilon Euskadi out until they're officially entered.

[EricSturrock]

Rabbit why dont you have Massa or Kimmi?

[Rabbit]

Rabbit why dont you have Massa or Kimmi?

Most reports suggest that Kimi is going to retire at the end of the year and spend 2010 in the World Rally Championship.  Although Felipe is expected to make a full recovery, I'm holding off on including him in the driver market for now because I'm just not sure if he'll be able to/want to return.  Obviously, if he can and wants to come back, there will be a Ferrari with his name on it.

[OnlyZ]

Most reports suggest that Kimi is going to retire at the end of the year and spend 2010 in the World Rally Championship.  Although Felipe is expected to make a full recovery, I'm holding off on including him in the driver market for now because I'm just not sure if he'll be able to/want to return.  Obviously, if he can and wants to come back, there will be a Ferrari with his name on it.

Kimi wants to go off on his yachts and get drunk 24/7.

[Dirt13]

Most reports suggest that Kimi is going to retire at the end of the year and spend 2010 in the World Rally Championship.  Although Felipe is expected to make a full recovery, I'm holding off on including him in the driver market for now because I'm just not sure if he'll be able to/want to return.  Obviously, if he can and wants to come back, there will be a Ferrari with his name on it.

Kimi wants to go off on his yachts and get drunk 24/7.

And just like that:

Im a fan of Kimi!

[ShakeAndBake58]

Well, you know what they say... "Time flies when you're having rum..."

[OnlyZ]

And just like that:

Im a fan of Kimi!

That makes two of us here!

Who's your man Eric?

[Drew]

The rumors are getting stronger and stronger that Renault will be gone at the end of 2009. I have fingers and toes crossed that Fernando gets the Ferrari drive. I hope Villeneuve gets a seat at Manor or USF1 but I imagine he'd need to be bringing money to get one of those seats.

[Rabbit]

And just like that:

Im a fan of Kimi!

That makes two of us here!

Who's your man Eric?

I'm one of those horrible wishy-washy people who supports half the grid .  Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Felipe Massa are the guys I really support, though.

The rumors are getting stronger and stronger that Renault will be gone at the end of 2009. I have fingers and toes crossed that Fernando gets the Ferrari drive. I hope Villeneuve gets a seat at Manor or USF1 but I imagine he'd need to be bringing money to get one of those seats.

I'd prefer Alonso and Renault to rise again (in Mild Seven colors, of course), but with ING gone, I'd tend to believe the rumors that Renault are, too.  However, Flavio has hinted he might buy the team and call it Briatore F1.  So, at the end of the day, Alonso to the Scuderia sounds good to me.  I'd like nothing more than Fernando and Lewis battling for the title again in 2010.

As for JV, I'd like him to take Peter Windsor's place on SPEEDTV.  I don't think he'd hold back with a mic in his hands.

[Rabbit]

Booo...preferential treatment: http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-fota-teams-allow-schu-to-test-f60/

It's probbaly a nice gesture, but Ferrari are going to develop new parts, it's inevitable.  I support FOTA but it seems to me like the concerns the Scuderia would have total control over them may be true-ish.  Which scares me...they could easily sway FOTA to vote for Jean Todt, who won't be much good, instead of Ari Vatenan, who would be very good.
---------------------------
Short version of the following: FOTA have F1's best interest in mind, not their own.  Max has nobody's interest in mind, Bernie's just a figure but CVC are the greedy ones.  Whitmarsh wants lower ticket prices and more appeal in the US market.

I was reading Motorsport earlier and Nigel Roebuck had a nice feature on the FIA/FOTA deal.  Anyone who blames Bernie for the high ticket prices and lack of traditional European as well as North American venues is wrong-ish.  It's the CVC's fault; the high sanction fees and ticket prices aren't out of Bernie's greed, but rather to pay off CVC (who technically own Formula 1)'s massive debts (they took out huge loans from RBS to buy the commercial rights from Bernie).  Which is really pizzing the team bosses off, who suggest they race "in places we actually want to go, and where the sponsors want to sell things."  Martin Whitmarsh also called NA "vital" to them, and said Montréal was important, but that they also want to be in the US and need to be more aggressive with selling F1 in the States, suggesting they bring all the cars to Times Square for demonstration runs (hello unoriginal copycat thinking).

Speaking of New York, I found it interesting that when the FOCA threated to split from FISA in 1981, their schedule (for the horribly named World Motorsport Federation present the World Professional Drivers' Championship) included a race in NYC on May 2, which should've been a clue they never really intended to split in the first place.  Of course, Marlboro planned to host a CART race in NYC about a decade later, which also failed.

Okay, I'm done talking now.