Quote from DevilDare :

Its lovely to see how everyone all of a sudden starts to support "Honda" Brawn GP because they are quick. Just shows that people support teams not because they like them but because they can go around "yay i support a team thats quick!"

oh the horror! supporting RACING teams who are quick: what an injustice!

Really can't wait for this. Don't really care who wins but it would be nice to see Brawn get a win! Not because i'm jumping on the bandwaggon but I think they deserve a good result! If it is Brawn i'm putting my money on rubens however after he outperformed Jenson last year. Shouldn't discount Ferrari though, I will be very suprised if they are not close to the top of the grid.

Just really looking forward to see how the cars compare in general so we can confirm who has made a balls up and who hasn't!

As far as the title is concerned, i'm hoping for Kimi, although this new win system allows teams who are slow at the start of the season to really catch up later on. OH! and we might finally see one of the other 19 muppets on track instead of Lewis Hamilton, that has to be a good thing!

Quote from jaws99 :

Really can't wait for this. Don't really care who wins but it would be nice to see Brawn get a win! Not because i'm jumping on the bandwaggon but I think they deserve a good result! If it is Brawn i'm putting my money on rubens however after he outperformed Jenson last year. Shouldn't discount Ferrari though, I will be very suprised if they are not close to the top of the grid.

Just really looking forward to see how the cars compare in general so we can confirm who has made a balls up and who hasn't!

As far as the title is concerned, i'm hoping for Kimi, although this new win system allows teams who are slow at the start of the season to really catch up later on. OH! and we might finally see one of the other 19 muppets on track instead of Lewis Hamilton, that has to be a good thing!

this sytem doesn't help teams catch up at the end of the season, there is basically no mid season testing any more so all they can do is do shit loads of laps in practise and add parts then, most of it will be computer based work.

RBR and Webber , really any team with Webber is my team.

I have no illusions that there going to set the world on fire but who knows with Vettel in the team they might go harder than expected.

GO WBBER!!!!
AND his little mate Seb!

Quote from richo :

RBR and Webber , really any team with Webber is my team.

I have no illusions that there going to set the world on fire but who knows with Vettel in the team they might go harder than expected.

GO WBBER!!!!
AND his little mate Seb!

im on the same boat here, lol.

I just hope to god that Red bull is quick and reliable then i will have no doubt both will rack up shit loads of points.

I live right next to the track
Let the soothing sounds begin!

Quote from tinvek :

anyone else read in autosport how kubica's height may mean he has to run without Kers whilst heidfeld runs with it due to centre of gravity issues ?

People says that his height and weight might not work well with kers and different ballast setting. At the same time Mario Theissen says new WDC will be the one who will use Kers. If Kubica is still the 1st Sauber team driver they will have to push him to get WDC, so he will have to use Kers which slows him down and win the season at the same time, according to his chief

Quote from hotmail :

raikonen 2nd no way , he cant drive without Trackion contol, and now he even has less downforce on the rear side of the car , so he is crashing even more

What are you basing that on? From throttle traces it's clear that Kimi is one of the most sensitive throttle drivers, and can cope with the lack of TC better than most (not that any of them have much trouble, as a 7 year old could manage it), and Kimi likes an oversteery car, so the changes to downforce and tyres should suit him.

Massa is the opposite (although I gather his throttle control has REALLY developed), and prefers an understeery car, something he won't get often in 2009 if the analysis is correct.

If I recall correctly, even with traction control Kimi was had one of the smoothest right foots.... err..

At the time it was compared to Montoya, who just left everything to the TC.

Quote from tristancliffe :

What are you basing that on? From throttle traces it's clear that Kimi is one of the most sensitive throttle drivers, and can cope with the lack of TC better than most (not that any of them have much trouble, as a 7 year old could manage it), and Kimi likes an oversteery car, so the changes to downforce and tyres should suit him.

Massa is the opposite (although I gather his throttle control has REALLY developed), and prefers an understeery car, something he won't get often in 2009 if the analysis is correct.

So your saying Massa and Alonso are going to suffer, i doubt it. The driving styles from these top drivers, whilst diffrent all interlink with positives and negatives over each other.

People said Buttons driving style would suit T/C off instead hes retirement mode team mate Rubens shamed him.

Quote from hyntty :

If I recall correctly, even with traction control Kimi was had one of the smoothest right foots.... err..

At the time it was compared to Montoya, who just left everything to the TC.

pfft, Montoya in 01 was still crazy for a rookie with t/c off.

Probably the most aggresive driver that made it work.

Quote from Mustafur :

So your saying Massa and Alonso are going to suffer, i doubt it. The driving styles from these top drivers, whilst diffrent all interlink with positives and negatives over each other.

People said Buttons driving style would suit T/C off instead hes retirement mode team mate Rubens shamed him.

Massa will suffer, Alonso won't. If Massa proves me wrong next season good for him, then he has developed his style even more. but I doubt that.

Alonso is such a weird fellow no analysis in the world can explain his driving.

Quote from Mustafur :

pfft, Montoya in 01 was still crazy for a rookie with t/c off.

Probably the most aggresive driver that made it work.

That now makes no sence at all? Who said anything about 01? Or having TC off?

Quote from hyntty :

If I recall correctly, even with traction control Kimi was had one of the smoothest right foots.... err..

At the time it was compared to Montoya, who just left everything to the TC.

ive read it somewhere Kimi was off the pace at the start of 2007 was because Ferrari's TC system was too advanced and aggressive compare to the old one he had in McLaren. He only gotten faster after ferrari turn the TC system down a bit.

Rubens suffered with a similar problem when he first joined Honda. He said the TC system of the Honda is a lot less effective than the one he had in Ferrari. He said he had to be a lot more gentle with the throttle while in the Ferrari days he could just floor the throttle in the middle of the corner and let the TC sort it out for him.

The best drivers will adjust their styles to suit the car. So all this talk about how Driver X will suffer while Driver Y won't, is a bit academic. Some of the lesser drivers might have difficulty, but the better drivers will find workarounds.

Alonso definitely won't suffer. He is the most complete driver on the grid, and I think he has demonstrated his ability to adapt to any car.

Massa might suffer, but he might not. I think he's probably less naturally talented than Raikkonen, but he seems to be the type of driver who can be coached to perform very well. He has certainly developed lot since his Sauber days.

The stereotyped "smooth" drivers probably won't have a problem: Button, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Sutil, et al. Their ability to conserve tyres may be advantageous.

Lewis and Vettel like their oversteer. If they are as good as they are hyped, then they will adapt.

Rosberg used to brake-late-turn-in-sharp-and-hope-for-the-best, but he seems to be developed quite a bit since then.

Let the GP come, and we'll all see who has the better right foot.

Quote :

I've always liked Honda to an extent, and I've supported Button, much to Becky's irritation, for years (even prior to F1, slightly ). But the fact is that they have succeeded, so far, against the odds. Having Honda pull out, no engine deal, drivers considering going elsewhere (no matter what they say) and no money - yet they worked hard, and created a car that was, so far, quick.

If Button does well this year i'll be quite willing to say "good job, best improved driver 21st century". It still does not undermine that he has been in F1 years and managed to consistently underperform even when in a top car, screwed over his team bosses, and as far as I can tell, is just as arrogant as the times i've met him.

The fact that I dont support him or wish him well is entirely personal and nothing at all to do with his abundance of absent talent. If he has somehow turned into a racing driver after all these years since squandering every young racers dream then this would be a good thing for the sport. If he turns out better than Barichello this year i'll say "ok, Button finaly sorted himself out and delivered". I doubt i'll get behind him and cheer him on, but I dont wish him ill.

As for the Australian GP, I cant wait. I havnt kept abrest of things so i've no idea or predictions - i'm just going to switch that telly on and be as enthralled, suprised and overjoyed with the new season as when I watched my first race all those years ago.

It should take at least 30 minutes before cynicism starts setting in.

Quote from Becky Rose :

screwed over his team bosses, and as far as I can tell, is just as arrogant as the times i've met him.

Thats just a common case of racing driver syndrome.

Just to note, BBC are showing highlights of classic races on the red button leading up to each race weekend, classic Aussie GPs are showing now. Red button - sports multiscreen

Would be nice if they showed free practice too.

They're showing all practice sessions on the red button too, no commentary of course though

Hmmmm.

http://www.f1technical.net/new ... 84c989ec76c08607227729498

Red Bull getting all arsey about Brawn's rather trick Double decker diffuser, probrably means Red Bull are struggling.

Funny how they leave it until the first race weekend to raise their complaint, even though the diffuser in question has been around for weeks now.

Quote from 5haz :

Hmmmm.

http://www.f1technical.net/new ... 84c989ec76c08607227729498

Red Bull getting all arsey about Brawn's rather trick Double decker diffuser, probrably means Red Bull are struggling.

Funny how they leave it until the first race weekend to raise their complaint, even though the diffuser in question has been around for weeks now.

The other teams have been bitching about it for a couple of weeks now, I know that during/after the 2nd last practise session, some times were questioning the legality of the diffuser, while some were saying they would challange it if they turned up to race with it. However it seems that despite early protests from Ferrari, Mclaren, Renault and Red Bull....it seems only Red Bull will go ahead and appeal.

Having said that, I'm lead to believe that FIA have already inspected it and have given the go ahead, the issue here seems to be not wether this is within the rules but wether it within the nature of the sport. Seems rather petty if you ask me, but then thats what drives the sport.

It's a clever interpretation of some stupidly vague rules.

From what I've picked up the problem is that they've got a massive hole in what should be a flat surface on the back of the diffuser, the FIA allow a hole in that surface to allow the starter pneumatic thingy to be plugged in, and they state that this hole should be "as small as necessary" but how small is necessary?

The FIA should make its bloomin mind up and then these things wont happen.

^^ In that case if Honda are clever enough to expliot a vague rule for their gain then good for them. Its hardly the first time something like this has happened.

It's just gamesmanship, and why didn't Red Bull just react quickly and look into getting a similar design of their own into place?

this always seems to happen with new rules and / or any inovation. the trouble is F1 has this stupid system of two layers of legality, the FIA may say it's legal and the race stewards may still throw it out. it should be simple and straight forward, you design something, submit it to a central stewards body who then rule on it. the same stewards body should also rule on legality at races, not local stewards.

as it is it just causes confusion and costs the teams money, in the past we've had ferrari disqualified over barge board size before being declarred legal on appeal and mclaren invested time and money in their second brake pedal system before being told they had to stop using it.

the other problem is that teams are not reqired to run legal cars at testing so none of these issues can be clarified till a race meating. whilst this does allow interim cars and designs, such as mclaren using last years rear wing, there should be a cut off point so that cars have to comply with regs before the last tests.


EDIT it was alot worse in the 70s, in italy cars got their qual runs thrown out 1 year because their fuel was too high an octane rating, the limit being decided by being within a certain distance of the highest octane fuel on sale for road cars, at the time italy had lower octane fuel than other countries so their limit was lower and the fuel was illegal despite being legal at every other gp that year. mclaren in 76 were disqualified from a race result because their car was too wide under the new regs brought in to limit car width. the actual max size was was decided on by using the widest car currently racing which was the same mclaren but despite the car being identical, local stewards disagreed on how wide it was due to the tyres having a slightly different sidewall shape and the extra "width" offering no gain. this was later overturned, possibly due to it being pointed out that ferrari had been running their oil cooler in an illegal position for half the season. as james hunt said, it also gave ferrari no advantage and was simply a case of one race's stewards believing it to be legal when ferrari changed its position only for it to be pointed out it was not some races later

one good thing is that presumably brawn, williams and toyota have had enough warning about other teams concerns and will have made plans in case they fail scrutineering