Quote from Vain :

I thought the new regulations were rather useless in the beginning, however it has put quite a lot of teams off the rails while some smaller teams ended up in the front. I believe that the other teams that dropped behind compared to last season will catch up quickly and thus we will see a shift in balance over the course of the year, which could very well lead to an incredible championship.
E.g. Button will likely be gone and away at Australia and comfortably lead the race, but I don't think BrawnGP can maintain such a dominating position for the whole season. Thus we'll likely see several teams at the top at some point of time during the season. If we're lucky the first WDC with the race-wins system might be wide open until the last few races because no one managed to get more than 3 racewins.
Though I personally wish a swift and painfull demise to the new WDC system and the guy who thought of it.

Vain

To me, having something that is basically a lottery for half a season so some of the 'crap' teams look better than they are for a few races and makes it look like its actually been a half decent season, isnt racing.

I mean, if things are so screwed up to the point that Button or Rubens win the race this weekend, its basically more of a joke than an acheivement. Rubens coming 3rd at Silverstone was an acheivement, getting the Honda into Q2 last year was an acheivement, but winning by relative luck in the manner in which you decided to build a car which in 4 months time will most likely be mid-pack once other advanced teams have a chance to actually find out how the car handles through races cos they cant do any testing... to me thats not as much of an acheivement.
If they win consistantly then thats entirely different, but IMO winning because the rules have been messed with so much that nobody has a real starting point, extremely limited testing (track or wind tunnel), and its just a big bag of unknowns until the first race isnt interesting at all. Cos lets be honest, if Brawn win the first 2 races, your still going to be looking at them thinking it wont be long now until they fade away, Ferrari/Mclaren/Renault/BMW are coming on strong now they've solved the initial issues and in a couple of races it'll be back to normal. Its just 4-6 fake rounds until things settle down, to me thats not entertaining, its misleading, not representative of anything.
I just think it devalues honest results, not that these are dishonest, but id rather see the same 4 drivers win every single race in a season, than see 5, because one of them got lucky and everyone crashed out so some no-hoper mid pack guy wins but really never stood a hope in hell of getting a point otherwise. Thats just my opinion though, if a win is entirely on merit, the more the merrier, but freebie wins are just embarrasing.

If racing is all about the element of suprise, or not having the same results, then lets just pull names out of a hat, thus saving some money and 2hrs on a sunday afternoon.

Bernie seems to be desperate to get casual viewers watching by messing so much that it appeals to people who dont give a hoot about real racing, and instead want to see crashes and anything that allows them to talk about racing with proper race fans at work the next day.

Also, might be time someone told you that stupid wins based championship the FIA pulled out of their ass was illegal cos they announced it about 2wks after the deadline for such decisions to be made, but bernie being the ass he is still insists it'll be used in 2010 despite nobody wanting it.

Isn't racing? No, this is racing! This is exactly how motorsport works. Yh the governing bodies make very odd decisions, but most of the time it's the same for everyone.

Everyone had the same rule book and some were smarter than others. If teams catch up so what that's motor racing.

I feel the only real aspect of F1 is the development race between the engineers so what we are seeing is the engineers being put through their paces. It's great in that sense.

I am not sure about your point though. A team building a good car is bad, but a team building a pap car and then having to rely upon their huge resources to develop is good?

not quite what i mean.

In terms of the limit of what is possible with these regulations, we'll say brawn are at something like 70%, while Mclaren/BMW look like they're at around 60% and playing catch up.
Im saying that Mcl/BMW will find 10% very quickly, and another 10%+ over the rest of the season. But i find it hard to believe that Brawn and some of the other smaller and lesser teams will.

Ferrari/BMW/Mclaren/Renault didnt get to where they were by luck, they got there by being a superior builder of a competitive race winning car. They've had to start with a blank peice of paper due to drastic rule changes, told they cant do much testing because of drastic rule changes, and as a result of this, things are all over the place and theres a big element of luck in being correct.
These big successful teams have the ability to correct the mistakes once they know what they were, and they'll soon overtake the smaller teams.

Whether thats racing or not, i dunno, however whats as good as fact is that the results wont be a fair reflection of what to expect this season. Therefor its misleading, purely because some teams have started with something closer to perfection, but we all know they'll soon be caught and be back where they were in previous season, Places they got on merit last time, and soon will this season.

Maybe its just me, but im not interested in this random element, i expect the best to be the best, if people improve (like BMW) and become part of 'the best' then they're there by their acheivement. Being there because you got a little luckier than the rest when designing something new with limited chance to find out if it works, so for 3 races your the best but for the remaining 15/16 races your average... IMO thats just stupid.

Anyone know what time P3 is on? Thought it would be on by now...

27min, formula1.com or bbc f1 section have countdown timers for sessions

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/h ... t/formula_one/7969435.stm

Virgin confirmed as Brawn GP sponsor.

Is at times like these where you wish Murray was still commentating to provide us with some golden one-liners mid-race!

"wo wow Button has rear ended his Virgin!"

one thing i don't understand about McLaren. They have issues and yet don't want to get their car on the track. 15 minutes in the FP3, got new parts on the car, and they are not on track?

Been the same all winter! odd

im sure if they were concerned and felt they could improve by doing more laps, they'd be doing so. Same goes to Ferrari and BMW.

Are people really under the impression that the 4 best teams of the last couple of seasons are all completely off the pace? Im sure they're not on a blistering pace (Kimi isnt now hehe) but considering these laps dont mean nothing for pace, only setting up... im thinking they're all doing conservative laps because of the engine stress and the need to make them last so long now, keeping race tyres fresh, things like that.

Quote from PaulC2K :

im sure if they were concerned and felt they could improve by doing more laps, they'd be doing so. Same goes to Ferrari and BMW.

Are people really under the impression that the 4 best teams of the last couple of seasons are all completely off the pace? Im sure they're not on a blistering pace (Kimi isnt now hehe) but considering these laps dont mean nothing for pace, only setting up... im thinking they're all doing conservative laps because of the engine stress and the need to make them last so long now, keeping race tyres fresh, things like that.

Well I would like to understand their thinking. Of course there is a logical answer but apparently they have bolted on some new parts for today, and you would think if the Oz GP is a right-off for them they would pound out the laps to gain data considering the testing ban. They aren't gonna get in Q2 on current 'form' so why worry about engine stress?

watching FP3.

Brawn is still effing quick

Well, as i say, i find it really hard to believe that the 4 most successful teams of the last few years have all got rubbish cars. Its probably no coincidence the 'Diffuser 3' teams are all flying, but in terms of engines, they've got to last 3 race weekends now, so no team will want to push things too far, even at limited power.

It does seem odd that you'd do a lap at the start of the hour and then wait 15min before going back out, but im sure if the team were desperate for mileage they'd be putting in those miles. I wouldnt read too much into it at the moment. Nobody knows who's got what deep down, im sure theres an element of showboating for the cameras going on by some teams, and equally some mind games going on. Its hard to call anything until qual, and i dont think we'll really know properly till after round 3-4, purely cos some cars work better under different circumstances.

my god, someone talking about the fact that its bloody impossible to see who's on what tyre 90% of the time, just like at Fuji.
Screw the green eco BS, remove the green paint cos thats more 'green', or if you want us to be able to tell the difference, use a proper colour!

ferrari has pace, mclaren....doesn't seem so and lewis looks a bit understeery?

Quote from PaulC2K :

Well, as i say, i find it really hard to believe that the 4 most successful teams of the last few years have all got rubbish cars. Its probably no coincidence the 'Diffuser 3' teams are all flying, but in terms of engines, they've got to last 3 race weekends now, so no team will want to push things too far, even at limited power.

It does seem odd that you'd do a lap at the start of the hour and then wait 15min before going back out, but im sure if the team were desperate for mileage they'd be putting in those miles. I wouldnt read too much into it at the moment. Nobody knows who's got what deep down, im sure theres an element of showboating for the cameras going on by some teams, and equally some mind games going on. Its hard to call anything until qual, and i dont think we'll really know properly till after round 3-4, purely cos some cars work better under different circumstances.

I don't think Oz is as bad indicator for cars performances as some make out. Last year Hamilton won with a car that wasn't quite up to par compared to Ferrari, and the BMWs contended. That played out pretty accurately. Same in 07 as well.

We'll know in a couple of hours where the teams are but at the moment I think we are seeing the relative performances pretty accurately. Unless McLaren are waiting to the final second of course... but thats seems extremely unlikely.

I don't buy this idea that a team who is at the back in Oz as McLaren appear to be can develop their way to the front. At best they can hope for strong podium finishes by the Abu Dhabi... at best!

What I do find perplexing is that they are throwing everything at this car so they must believe in it's potential. I guess they need to save face somewhat to keep sponsors but it's going to be a testing year.

What is interesting is Renault. Alonso, the best developer, can't seem to find any pace in that car. Goes to show how engineering based F1 is.

But all this is assumed so who knows. Few hours to quali

"I don't buy this idea that a team who is at the back in Oz as McLaren appear to be can develop their way to the front. At best they can hope for strong podium finishes by the Abu Dhabi... at best!"
Last season, with a track full of cars pretty much the same as previous years, saw only 6 finishers iirc, and 2 DNF's getting points (Bourdais & massa i think), so even a win is possible
Im sure all 4 teams will be flexing their muscles by the time they get to Europe, mainly cos they'll have their own version of what Ferrari, Renault etc consider illegal. As i mentioned, i doubt its coincidence they're all doing really well, and common opinion before laps were done was that it would be worth a good half sec per lap and that seems accurate.

By round 6, i'd expect things to be back to normal again, however its the damage done getting there which will probably decide the season. And i completely agree with your comment about it being a testing season, but for most teams. The changes being so drastic, it'll just take a while till people get confirmed feedback about their cars and what needs improving, then a while to come up with a solution etc.
Its a shame really, they've banned testing, and turned the season into testing for many, as if it wasnt annoying enough seeing BMW back down near the end, and Honda give up somewhere around 1995 (:razz to build their current car.

The teams will copy the diffusers but having designed their own cars around a more basic version they may not get favoured results. RedBull are the most screwed by this because their fancy rear suspension will stop them fitting a flash diffuser. It will be a shame to see Vettel not have a decent run as the year goes on

Consider the Renault of 05 and their mass damper (or was it 06 can't remember). Ferrari, and McLaren had their own versions but just could get them to work. The Renault was designed around it and the results were proof it their success.

Ferrari are probably sitting very good at the moment. A very fast car, and a new trick diffuser could elevate them above BrawnGP. But Brawn look miles ahead of everyone and they will develop also. It's not like the guys at Brackley are going to sit back and do jack.

Fingers crossed for Force India. I watched some videos of their factory and I am NOT joking when I say have seen kart teams that look like they have a better unit and equipment lol I think people seem to think BrawnGP are out doing themselves when in reality they aren't. Force India on the other hand

Im sure they'll all develop, but like FI, Brawn are on a mission to promote themselves in the hope of getting sufficient funding for future seasons, they never had the same development speed as Honda, i dont see that being better under Virgin/Brawn F1. I'd imagine they'll fix obvious issues, but i doubt they'll try new ideas, teams like Ferrari in comparison have a limitless pot of money if things arent going right for them.

Its been the same every other season, if the F1 rules banned development from April onwards, then thats one thing, but while teams are free to throw money at the car to try and go faster, thats exactly what those with the money will be doing.

lol Hamilton's a simmer

"Me, Heikki, Nick, and Sutil will hook up on the Internet and race GTR or F1 cars"

Quote from Intrepid :

lol Hamilton's a simmer

"Me, Heikki, Nick, and Sutil will hook up on the Internet and race GTR or F1 cars"

Lol, was thinking the same

So we know Lewis, Heikki, Nick and Sutil are 'casual simmers'...who else?

Didn't Kubica drive LFS a couple of years back?

Someone should tell Legard he's commentating on TV not the radio! he's describing every detail. lol

oh dear wtf? Alonso and Hamilton? lol give it some time could still fall out. Track is improving lap by lap.

madness, half of the grid is so damn close in performance.

heheh now redbull in the game as well