F1 World Championship 2009 Thread

[JoeC]

Can't someone just shoot him? It would save a lot of hassle :)

[Subject Delta]

Sure, if they'd be prepared to take a 25 year prison stretch for the good of F1. That kinda counts me out :D

[Mike]

Sure, if they'd be prepared to take a 25 year prison stretch for the good of F1. That kinda counts me out :D

Last time i checked you're in the UK, you could be released before next season starts :p

[JoeC]

Pfft, stop being selfish Frank ^_^

[Subject Delta]

:laugh: who's gonna supply the piece then

[Lovell]

Hitler? He got things done, says Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone

[Subject Delta]

Bernie's full of crap. The teams have forced the FIA and to a lesser extent bernie into a corner, and they don't like the fact that they are for once on the losing side and have been forced to concede.

Max has done wonders for safety in F1, but ultimately this time he has been undone by his own arrogance, he needs to just accept that he lost and serve out the rest of his term without rattling anyone else's cage.

[Woj]

New row 'threatens F1's future'

The eight members of the Formula 1 Teams Association (Fota) walked out of a meeting with the sport's governing body, the FIA, on Wednesday.

The meeting, at Germany's Nurburgring, was held to discuss next year's rules and Fota's proposed changes to them.

But the Fota teams left when told they had not entered the 2010 championship and therefore had no voting rights on technical and sporting regulations.

A Fota statement said the row "puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy".

It is the latest incident in a bitter, long-running argument between Fota and the FIA over planned budgetary and technical changes which has threatened to tear the sport apart.

The eight Fota teams - Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP - insist they have entered the 2010 championship.

Fota statement

"It is clear to the Fota teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris"

"It will be remembered all eight active Fota members were included on the 'accepted' entry list as endorsed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) and communicated by FIA press statement on 24 June," said Fota.

The association added that because it was now being claimed they had not entered, they had "requested a postponement of today's meetings".

Fota continued: "This was rejected on the grounds no new Concorde Agreement would be permitted before a unanimous approval of the 2010 regulations was achieved.

"However, it is clear to the Fota teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris.

"As endorsed by the World Motor Sport Council and clearly stated in the FIA press statement of 24 June 'the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April, 2009'.

"At no point in the Paris discussions was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed.

"To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy.

"As a result of these statements, the Fota representatives at the subsequent Technical Working Group were not able to exercise their rights and therefore had no option other than to terminate their participation.

"The Fota members undertook the Paris agreement and the subsequent discussions in good faith and with a desire to engage with all new and existing teams on the future of Formula 1."

The FIA insisted in a statement of its own that it had wanted to discuss proposals for 2010.

The FIA added: "Unfortunately, no discussion was possible because Fota walked out of the meeting."

The long-running row between Fota and the FIA appeared to have been resolved in June, when an agreement was reached between F1's governing body and the Fota teams to prevent a breakaway series.

Under the terms of that deal a proposed budget cap was postponed and the teams won significant concessions on rule changes and the governance of the sport, while Max Mosley agreed not to stand for re-election as president of the FIA.

Wednesday's truncated meeting was attended by Williams and Force India, who are suspended from Fota after applying for unconditional entries to race in 2010 at the height of the budget cap crisis.

Formula 1's three new teams, Campos Grand Prix, Manor and US F1, also attended the meeting at the Nurburgring ahead of Sunday's German Grand Prix.

Source - BBC Sport

[Subject Delta]

Gah, looks like the FIA are still bent on destroying F1. If I where the head of FOTA, I would begin plans to set up their rival championship and just fully wash my hands with F1 and the FIA for good. They are nothing more than a bunch of moronic clowns run by a relic from the Nazi era that is so full of his own arrogance that he doesn't realise that his stubborn short sightedness is ruining the sport.

[Miuku.]

"Bernie gets the job done" ;-)

[Pablo2008jedi]

Gah, looks like the FIA are still bent on destroying F1. If I where the head of FOTA, I would begin plans to set up their rival championship and just fully wash my hands with F1 and the FIA for good. They are nothing more than a bunch of moronic clowns run by a relic from the Nazi era that is so full of his own arrogance that he doesn't realise that his stubborn short sightedness is ruining the sport.

+1

I've been a fan for over 15years, but the last 3-4 seasons I only watched the odd race as the sport was getting too boring. So far 2009 has been good, and I have actually watched every race live (that include getting up in the early hours :p )

[Subject Delta]

The on track action is no worse or better IMO than ever before, it is just becoming the case that the sport is becoming more and more dominated by politics and not by the actual on track action. 2004 was the last year in which there was no major political drama, there has been one or 2 in every season since then

[.mcman]

Pre-race weights & provisional grid:

1. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 661kg

2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 647

3. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 644

4. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 661

5. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 654.5

6. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 664.0

7. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 678.5

8. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 673.5

9. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 674

10. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 676

11. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 673.5 kg

12. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 668.2

13. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 683.6

14. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 683.7

15. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 689.6

16. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 673.5

17. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 674.5

18. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 662.5

19. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 689.5

20. Timo Glock, Toyota, 662.3

[Crazysah]

Force-India made it into Q3! Sutil is 7th! Ahead of both the Ferrari's! YAY! Go Sutil!

[CrashG]

Congrats to Webber for finally getting his first pole position, also congrats to Sutil for getting the Force India team into Q3 for the first time. Crazy weather during quali and the same is expected for the race, so it could make for a very interesting afternoon tomorrow.

[Subject Delta]

Sutil qualifying ahead of the Ferraris, and on merit... Unbelievable. This is FI's golden chance to get their first points, I hope they do it.

Also, McLaren's upgrade package is immensely impressive, if they had gone aggressive, I feel Lewis would have been even further up the grid. With KERS, it will be interesting to see how much ground he can make up in the first corner, if the perceived wisdom is correct that McLaren are still about 3/10 off leading pace in long run terms, Lewis could make someone's afternoon extremely miserable (Being right in front of him on the grid, Vettle will probably be particularly nervous about Lewis's KERS).

The elements are in place for a pretty interesting race, dry or wet.

[Crazysah]

Sutil qualifying ahead of the Ferraris, and on merit... Unbelievable. This is FI's golden chance to get their first points, I hope they do it.

Also, McLaren's upgrade package is immensely impressive, if they had gone aggressive, I feel Lewis would have been even further up the grid. With KERS, it will be interesting to see how much ground he can make up in the first corner, if the perceived wisdom is correct that McLaren are still about 3/10 off leading pace in long run terms, Lewis could make someone's afternoon extremely miserable (Being right in front of him on the grid, Vettle will probably be particularly nervous about Lewis's KERS).

The elements are in place for a pretty interesting race, dry or wet.

Yeah. A real interesting race is on the cards. FI's best chance is now and I am sure they will get it!

[tuckeratlarge]

I hope my beloved Scuderia don't have such a long drought they had last time they weren't winning. No offence to Force India but everybody in Maranello needs a good kicking.

For a start get Alonso and Vettel in the 27 and 28 cars.

I hope 2010 brings a bit more competitiveness. Even if they don't win every race, they should be fighting for the championship.

Let Kimi feck off back to Finland and do rallying and eating Magnums. He seems to care about that more than F1.

Massa can drive fast, then again they all can. It's the car more than the driver. But if the driver only does his best when the car is set up perfect for him and can't drive around problems, al la Schui/Alonso, then they need to go.

BTW. if Vettel won't leave Red Bull, may I suggest Bruno Senna?

[GrimReeper]

Interesting start to the german gp.

[Miuku.]

Looks like "Italian quality" is raising its head again :huh:

[san.W10]

[deuz]

two words: F*** Yeah

[simonlang]

Massa can drive fast, then again they all can. It's the car more than the driver. But if the driver only does his best when the car is set up perfect for him and can't drive around problems, al la Schui/Alonso, then they need to go.

hehe a true expert speaking :rofl:

i cant remember any race alonso driving arround problems and despite schumi did it was in the early years when the f1 cars werent that technicaly advanced yet.

then i have to add, today massa drove like a champ arround his tire problems and defended brilliant against vettel.

but okay, bring alonso to ferrari, im gonna bet massa will make him look as mediocre as he did with raikkonen. :D

[Subject Delta]

hehe a true expert speaking :rofl:

i cant remember any race alonso driving arround problems and despite schumi did it was in the early years when the f1 cars werent that technicaly advanced yet.

then i have to add, today massa drove like a champ arround his tire problems and defended brilliant against vettel.

but okay, bring alonso to ferrari, im gonna bet massa will make him look as mediocre as he did with raikkonen. :D

I won't waste my time debunking you, lets just leave it at this: You evidently have no idea whatsoever at just how much ability Alonso has behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car.

As for today's race... Brawn cost Barrichello the chance of an almost certain win, I feel he has every reason to be disenfranchised with the team at this moment in time, and I feel they will be quiet alarmed at how badly their competitiveness has tailed off over the past couple of races. Bridgestone's decision to lessen the performance gap between tyres may help them though, will be interesting to see how that one pans out. Webber however drove brilliantly and deserved his first ever win, and I am sure more will come with his car looking as good as it is at the moment.

As for the other stories... Impressive performance by Massa combined with good strategy. Terrible luck, again, for FI and Sutil, he must be starting to feel like Raikkonen is his nemesis. Also very disappointed with Hamilton, if it wasn't for his tangle with webber I feel he would have been a great bet for a podium today. A mention also must go to Alonso with the incredible pace that he put on towards the end of the race, but once again overtaking was nigh on impossible, to me a sure sign that the new regulations have ultimately failed.

All in all a pretty interesting race, will be interesting to see where things go from here

[Shycho]

I won't waste my time debunking you, lets just leave it at this: You evidently have no idea whatsoever at just how much ability Alonso had on the wheel of a Formula 1 car.

Fixed it for you. Alonso has done nothing since they took away Renaults launch control, saving him from actually having to do any over taking.