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Post by FordTeamRS on Mar 21, 2009 0:27:12 GMT
Seems I spoke to soon, given the unprecedented response, the FIA have wisely delayed any modification to the rule changes until 2010. This year's championship remains unchanged and will continue in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 format.
As for 2010, there's every possibility that this proposal may remain unchanged, or an alternate points scoring system something like 12-10-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Regarding McLaren's pace, they seemed to find a few tenths of a seconds in testing - although what strategy they were running remains a mystery. However, Mercedes' motorsport boss Norbert Haug has made the very frank claim that the McLarens will likey hover around the bottom third of teams in qualifying. Seems like McLaren caught whatever curse Honda had the last couple seasons - hoping it's not fatal.
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Post by Vivski on Mar 21, 2009 5:08:28 GMT
Should be the same as WRC... which should be: 11-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
We can count to 11, FIA, it's okay, we're not babies.
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Post by Will on Mar 21, 2009 16:53:10 GMT
15-12-10-6-4-3-2-1 My proposal
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Post by Vivski on Mar 21, 2009 19:13:15 GMT
So you think the difference between 3rd and 4th should be bigger than the diff between 1st and 2nd? The other problem is, the difference between 1st and 2nd is the same as the existing 10-8. 4 wins = the same as 5 2nds.
Not enough reward for winning, IMO.
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Post by FordTeamRS on Mar 27, 2009 10:47:13 GMT
I'm too lazy to post what happened in practice, I'm very badly sunburnt and I can't be bothered moving my neck Sum it up, Williams have topped the time sheets in practice with Brawn not close behind. This season is going to be wicked if things stay the way they are. Also spotted a random Aussie rally sighting today, with none other than Scott Pedder sitting beside me to watch the first practice session with his little daughter. I moved a little bit to give him space, and had to do a double take when I finally figured out who the guy next to me actually was. I thought the voice sounded familiar (he was wearing sunglasses so I couldn't really tell) and my suspicion was confirmed when he answered his phone and was yakking on about rallying - turns out he's been trying to grab hold of a Corolla S2000 and is trying to organise something for Rally Australia.
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Post by Will on Mar 27, 2009 10:57:10 GMT
I actually stayed up and watched first practice at 1am-3am this morning lol
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Post by Will on Mar 27, 2009 10:59:05 GMT
So you think the difference between 3rd and 4th should be bigger than the diff between 1st and 2nd? The other problem is, the difference between 1st and 2nd is the same as the existing 10-8. 4 wins = the same as 5 2nds. Not enough reward for winning, IMO. Good point.... LOL
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Post by FordTeamRS on Mar 28, 2009 9:55:51 GMT
You lucky Brits get the honour of the most kickarse TV intro for F1 ..oh and speaking of which, ran into none other than David Coulthard and Martin Brundle yesterday during the first practice session I haven't stopped playing it since I posted it here...neow, ner ner ner, ner ner ner nerrrrrrr, neow, ner ner nerrr nerrrrrr And the Polish F1 intro is incredibly bold and beautiful What a day for the Brawn team - first announcing a major sponsorship deal with Virgin (this is likely to grow bigger and better down the track) and Button plonking the thing on pole with Barrichello right behind him. The whole performance of the team commands respect, I certainly hope they win tomorrow. I got to watch qualifying on the braking approach to turn 6 - and the way they attack the corners is something I'll never get over. The bits of the track where they do 340kmh is wicked to watch, but it's the cornering ability that wows me more than anything. All of the drivers went through there super committed and lightning quick, you just want to get out there and give each of them a medal - all the drivers separated by 1 and a half seconds, it's never been closer, tenths of seconds decide whether you end up 11th or on pole. I think that's really the beautiful thing about F1 at this point in time, there are no crap drivers (I'd probably single out one driver in particular though) and there are no crap teams. It's really up to the drivers to keep chipping away at their setups and to find speed in themselves, so good to watch it, this season is going to be phenomenal.
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Post by Will on Mar 28, 2009 11:56:34 GMT
spoilers
Oh my god.
BUTTON AND BARRICHELLO FIRST/SECOND ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Nick McRae on Mar 28, 2009 17:23:33 GMT
GO ON BUTTON MY SON!
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Post by FordTeamRS on Mar 29, 2009 12:29:13 GMT
YES! YES! YES! I am so genuinely happy to see Button finally win another grand prix, and for Barrichello to prove all the naysayers wrong and for Brawn to rise from the dead and absolutely brain the rest of the field. Such classy driving, up until Vettel and Kubica decided to fight it out.
I can't be bothered commenting on the race because I've been on my feet since Thursday, sunburnt and minus a few brain cells as I barely wore earplugs except for the race. The atmosphere in the crowd was electric, the first lap was scintillating and the fans went nuts.
But the bit I loved the most, and it's something I always tend to forget, is the sprint to the podium. As soon as the course car came through, myself and some mates just bolted over the fence and went straight to the podium. I remember running through alongside thousands of other people thinking "yes, this is why I love motorsport"
The podium was the best podium I've ever had the pleasure to witness, the crowd went bananas and half the crowd (I suspect the British portion) sung out God Save The Queen. I'll post videos as soon as I can, but what a grand prix.
I could wax lyrical all night about this that and the other, but I've had a f***ing blast - I will struggle returning back to my normal life that's for sure.
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Post by FordTeamRS on Apr 5, 2009 5:16:02 GMT
Barely a week has gone by since Melbourne, and the magical mystery tour moves onto Malaysia. The race is on in a few hours, and while it's nowhere near as frantic as last weekend, there are still some questions to be answered. The first of which is the weather. Like Melbourne, Malaysia is going to start later than normal to cater for you lazy European lot There have been instances throughout this weekend where it has rained beyond biblical proportions (look up the 2001 Malaysian GP to gauge an idea for what I'm on about). There is a risk that should a storm come over during the race, lighting may prove to be a critical issue in terms of visibility - on terms with the spray from the cars and the lack of artifical lighting throughout the circuit. The wet weather is something the crews have very little, and in some cases none, experience of driving the latest generation cars in the wet. There is a concern over the reliability of the cars fitted with KERS that they won't be water damaged in the race should it rain. Also should the race be wet, those running KERS will be effectively carrying 40kg of dead weight. The KERS device already reeks havoc with the poor balance and high centre of gravity, it will be interesting to see how the KERS running should cope. Oh and of course there was the little matter of Lewis Hamilton and McLaren admitting they delibrately mislead the stewards last weekend in Australia. Hamilton's default 3rd place finish in Australia was stripped and he was excluded from the race altogether after it was revelead by footage and McLaren team radio that Hamilton let Trulli past, despite their protest that Trulli gained an advantage. Trulli has since been reinstated his original position from the race. The scapegoat from this saga is Hamilton's, or was, sporting manager Dave Ryan - who has worked with the team since the James Hunt days, a man reveered for his honesty and work ethic. Ryan has since been suspended by the team, but there is speculation he may leave the team altogether. Watch this space. As for qualifying, Button snatched pole in the dying stages of qualifying from Trulli to score Brawn's 2nd consecutive pole for the season. There was concern over the reliability of both Brawn cars as very visible oil smoke emitted from both cars throughout practice and qualifying - Brawn have dismissed any suggestions of problems citing the smoke as excess oil vapour from the Mercedes engine. The surprise of the session was Felipe Massa qualifying 16th, after he and the team rather foolishly opted to sit out the final stages of Q1 - thinking their time was safe to make Q1. Also Sebastian Vettel will start the race in 13th, having qualified 3rd, but this is due to a 10-place penalty as a result of the incident between he and Bob Kubica in Australia. Rubens Barrichello qualified 4th, however he will start 8th due to a 5-grid penalty for a gearbox change (Vettel was ahead of him, that's why he only drops 4 spots rather than 5). The weather will certainly place a massive question mark over the race, particularly due to the limited mileage of wet weather running, the new aero regulations and the KERS runners. Not to mention a lot of drivers wanting to prove a point.
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Post by mrdad on Apr 5, 2009 8:37:47 GMT
Who do you think was responsible for getting Hamilton to tell porky pies? ...and how stupid were they, thinking they would get away with it... maybe not Ryan (scapegoat?)
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Post by FordTeamRS on Apr 5, 2009 13:19:54 GMT
I'm a firm believer that F1 (and motorsport generally) is never a one-man entity. Dave Ryan may have suggested the plot, but Hamilton can think for himself and he could have just as easily corrected Ryan and kept to his original word. And McLaren know the rules and the significance of them, while it's refreshingly honest that they admitted to it all, it does not detract from the fact they did what they did. While I'm in no way shape or form justifying what they did, but in some respects it sets apart good drivers and teams from great drivers and teams. There have been suggestions that all may not be rosy between Hamilton and McLaren over this particular incident. Of course it's merely hearsay, but I doubt the Hamilton clan will appreciate having coming out of this branded as cheaters. Having said that, if Max Mosley can still show his face as FIA President despite his bare arse all over the internet, then the Hamilton/McLaren partnership can move on from it all. Anyway enough of the never-ending politics, what a crazy season we have had so far. The afternoon started off with some rain as demonstrated in the GP2 Asia race, a mere drizzle compared to what F1 had to contend with. The race started off bone dry, but the dark clouds were an ominous sign of things to come. Robert Kubica barely survived the formation lap after complaining about some sort of gremlin with the engine, he nearly stalled at the start but he eventually got it going to park it up. Rubens Barrichello had a dreadful start last weekend in Melbourne, it was Jenson Button's turn to hurf the start in Malaysia. While conditions remained dry, it was very much a battle between Nico Rosberg and Jarno Trulli. Rosberg even started pulling away from Trulli, such was the impressive pace of the Williams - hopefully this kind of performance will feature throughout the season for the team. The weather was still something irritating the teams, the weather gods in Malaysia were very much teasing the teams. Ferrari jumped the gun about 5 laps early, deciding to place Kimi Raikkonen on an EXTREME WET tyre despite the fact the track was completely dry - so much so that by the time that it actually started to rain, Raikkonen was howling on the radio complaining the formerly extreme wet tyre had worn out. The rain that featured early on in the race was as teasing, because it sprinkled at different parts of the track and many teams hoped it would get worse by sticking to a full wet, whilst others decided to take it as it comes and stick with the quicker intermediate tyre. Of course, it only got worse before it got better and it absolutely bucketed with rain and thunder for a good 15 minutes. It was far more violent however than the conditions experienced in the 2001 Malaysian GP, drivers were going off left right and centre on full wet tyres even when driving at safety car pace. The race ended up becoming red flagged due to the atrocious conditions, however the race was halted before the 75% minimum distance required for it to be declared a full race. So the entire grid effectively sat on the grid, waiting for some sign of the race being restarted, but to no avail - the race had reached its 2-hour limit. The race was planned to finish behind the safety car, however the conditions never allowed it. Given that this race never completed it's minimum distance, the points awarded were halved. So Jenson Button received 5 points for his win, whilst most of the other guys ended up receiving ridiculous points like 2.5 - imagine if the championship is decided by 0.5 of a point It has to be said, the later start of the Malaysian GP contributed to the race never fully finishing. Bernie Ecclestone was very insistent about starting the race as late as possible, however he failed to ignore the advice of the likelihood of an event such as this later in the afternoon. Had the race started just one hour earlier, it would most certainly have been a different result. The next round of the championship will be in Shanghai, China - appearing very early on the calendar this season in just two weeks. I wonder what other silliness will happen between now and then.
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Post by Vivski on Apr 6, 2009 8:53:00 GMT
Organising a race to start at 5pm in Malaysia takes a special kind of moron.
Everyone could see what was going to happen. It destroyed what was shaping up to be a pretty interesting race. I feel sorry for the spectators and the teams. A weekend and a lot of money pretty much wasted for them.
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