While the new teams are slow as snails, I love the look of their cars! HRT and Virgin look very cool, and Lotus' paint job is a wonderful blast from the past.

expecially when you compare it to sauber lol.

Potential headlines :

Captain KarunCh - Indian driver Karun Chandhok fails to finnish.

McLaren get lucky with "FLUTE" win - McLaren stroll to victory as everyone else crashes due to rain at the Bahrain circuit?!

anybody knows a good place to watch the F1 practise this year ( for the european guys) , my normal proxy isnt working anymore, so can really watch bbc.

and body know a way to get around this ?

Button just passed one of the HRT cars on a straight and he could've run circles around the thing. Also, there was a rather large vent part way up Button's nose. I wonder what it could be cooling considering how inefficient it looked for the aerodynamics.

Quote from Rappa Z :

Button just passed one of the HRT cars on a straight and he could've run circles around the thing. Also, there was a rather large vent part way up Button's nose. I wonder what it could be cooling considering how inefficient it looked for the aerodynamics.

would that be part of the "F-vent" system or whatever it's called~?

Quote from Intrepid :

Webber might not be the best drive out there but he's entertainment!

Maybe Weber was having a sneaky peak at the new Mclaren's package for reasons which are now becoming clear.

Quote :

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Bahrain: "There's an interesting twist to the McLaren rear wing/funnel argument. Some believe that the drivers actually have a role in making the system work. The rumour is that they can move their knees to block the airflow through the car to a degree, which would do something called 'stall' the rear wing - ie, make it work less well - thereby further increasing the car's straightline speed. During the break between sessions, I spoke to a leading engineer from a rival team, who said that if that was true, the system was in his opinion 'definitely illegal', on the basis that the drivers' knees would be affecting the airflow over the car, and would therefore effectively be a movable aerodynamic device, which are banned. Speculation is rife that one of McLaren's rivals may protest the car at the end of the race."

Following that logic: shouldn't each driver be decapitated prior to driving an F1 car, as the moving helmet affects airflow over the cockpit

I don't approve of the driver being able to change the aero properties by blocking a hole in the car with their knee, but the argument could be constructed a bit better imo

Free Practice 2 Times



HRT only 1.5secs faster than the GP2 pole

The rules relate specifically to driver changing aerodynamics.

More info here > http://axisofoversteer.blogspo ... lower-wing-explained.html

Quote from Rappa Z :

Button just passed one of the HRT cars on a straight and he could've run circles around the thing. Also, there was a rather large vent part way up Button's nose. I wonder what it could be cooling considering how inefficient it looked for the aerodynamics.

hehe behind the times there a bit Rappa Z

Admittedly, I've been as in touch with f1 lately as my country's team.

Quote from Bean0 :

Free Practice 2 Times



HRT only 1.5secs faster than the GP2 pole

They are bound to be... New team and this is the first time they have ran the car. You would be mistake for a dreamer if you thought they would even be within 3seconds of the leaders on the first outing... McLaren and Ferrari for example have YEARS and YEARS of cars to step up from, they don't have to start from scratch every year, necessarily anyway, they always have elements that they can use from the previous car of the previous year. The new teams don't have that.

Quote from danowat :

The rules relate specifically to driver changing aerodynamics.

More info here > http://axisofoversteer.blogspo ... lower-wing-explained.html

I was sure I already posted that.

Quote from Bean0 :

HRT only 1.5secs faster than the GP2 pole

A bit embarrassing, considering that F1 cars have around 150BHP more power than GP2 cars. I wonder whether Dallara used the same engineers for their HRT design as they did when they designed the GP2 cars (you read it right: Dallara designed the GP2 cars, and are the design partners for HRT).

Quote from BlueFlame :

I was sure I already posted that.

My bad

Quote from danowat :

The rules relate specifically to driver changing aerodynamics.

More info here > http://axisofoversteer.blogspo ... lower-wing-explained.html

The rules relate to moveable parts of the body of the car.
There are no moving car parts in McLarens Flute system.

Quote from BlueFlame :

They are bound to be... New team and this is the first time they have ran the car. You would be mistake for a dreamer if you thought they would even be within 3seconds of the leaders on the first outing... McLaren and Ferrari for example have YEARS and YEARS of cars to step up from, they don't have to start from scratch every year, necessarily anyway, they always have elements that they can use from the previous car of the previous year. The new teams don't have that.
I was sure I already posted that.

It would be fair to expect them to be at the same pace as the other new teams...5 secs faster than they are now.

HRT is way too slow.

FIA should tell them to bugger off and allow them to race when they fixed their car. Right now it is just pissing off other drivers...

Lol this HRT/Campos is a complete fail

I think this is gold, Reminds me of the old ATS, Osellas, Life and what not!

Quote from Bean0 :

It would be fair to expect them to be at the same pace as the other new teams...5 secs faster than they are now.

No it wouldn't.... All the other new teams have run their car before this weekend. These two first sessions are the first laps the HRT TEAM have done, never mind the car. There's alot more that goes on in the garages that you don't see, I suspect the reason they are so far from the pace is mainly because they just want some solid data with no mistakes from the Driver/s (only Senna ran though) as they have limited track time. It wouldn't suprise me if they were able to turn up the wick in the race and come out with times that are as good as what the new teams are/will be.

if HRT manage to get one of their cars to the finish of the race they will have done a good job, i suspect they'll be happy if they just manage half way into the race.

has to be said though that you do have to wonder about the vetting proccess for the new teams with HRT appearing just in the nick of time and the USF1 situation yet companies with far more experience like prodrive and lola not getting an entry (i'm ignoring the stefan GP story as i'm sure there is more to come on that yet)

I don't really thing they thought of the name of the team properly... HRT too many tissues and 'iPads' needed, and to think, the FiA wanted a budget cap, the bastards!

Quote from Bean0 :

HRT only 1.5secs faster than the GP2 pole

They've prepared awesome GP2 car!
...
But then they realised they're in wrong series.

Looks like Mercedes will dominate in Bahrain! I mean the engine, not the team itself. It's hard to say what will happen in the qualify but I think McLaren and Mercedes GP will take the first two rows. Red Bull had some problems at least in the practice session and I think Ferrari wasn't that aggressive as they could've. There's was just something that didn't work well with them.

Seriously, I don't understand what's going on with HRT. Chandhok hasn't driven a single lap and I think Senna broke his car in the end of the second practice session, I wonder if they have any spare parts yet. I know "bla-bla-bla it's a new team", but they have some major problems anyway when comparing to f.e. Lotus. Virgin is also struggling a little bit.

Anyway, I'm rooting for Rosberg. He has driven brilliantly.

My predictions for qualify:

1. Hamilton
2. Rosberg
3. Button
4. Schumacher

Not sure I'd call 7 secs off the pace for LOT and VIR as a little bit, they are going to get mullered in the race.