goodnightboy

I'm here mostly because I need to get away from the football headspace, but I do have to ask: what is going on with Stefan GP? To be fair I haven't been keeping up with the news but I keep hearing about them and are they trying to get a spot on the 2010 grid or something? I'm really confused. Stuff like this smacks of sour grapes. I mean, they have a point - USF1 are clearly unfit to race - but the manner that they're doing it, it's not good. They remind me of Prodrive, actually.

But on the topic of USF1, how the hell did the FIA agree to give them the slot ahead of more established outfits like Prodrive and yes, Stefan? I remember somewhere I found an article about how the new teams got in because using Cosworth engines were mandatory, and they agreed to it - but it got lost in the posts and I don't think anybody really picked up on it (whether on this thread or in the general F1 blogosphere). If true - and I'm quite sure it is - it's disgusting and ridiculous. What's this, a spec series? Talk about systemic discrimination, and if that was their only criteria I'm not surprised USF1 are struggling so badly. I know the FIA/Mosley/I can add Todt here probably aren't adverse to ruining the image of the sport (they seem to make a career of it) but honestly. What the hell?

welshgirlyUK

From what i can gather (i haven't really looked into it, so i might be wrong), all the F1 teams have to agree to Stefan GP taking the USF1 spot, but Ferrari have already said they won't support it, so...

goodnightboy

Well it seems like Stefan aren't in the final grid as the FIA have released their entry list and neither Stefan nor USF1 are in it. I have to say, USF1 - bit of a fiasco wasn't it?

Also: Campos (now renamed Hispania Racing, possibly the worst team name in the world) have unveiled the car as well as their new driver, which would be Karan Chandok (cue cheers from Bernie Ecclestone).

What do you guys make of the new season? Excited? I'm glad to get back to the racing, although the off season hasn't been so bad because I've been off F1 a bit. But I may go to the Singapore GP this year, so it may not be a good race, but I can't wait. There's nothing quite like being there is it? (I'd assume; this will be my first race ever). I did read this article from TIME though and it got me thinking. It's an old horse to beat, but it does still boggle the mind - how on earth is my government paying up to $45 million per year for a race, making a loss every time, and considering it good value? (Rhetorical question - the publicity, as my sister says, is "priceless", but the loss is money, still. I almost feel bad for supporting this race.)

welshgirlyUK

The F1 2009 Wii game made me feel like F1 never went away lol. Although i'd started to think less favourably about Ruben's in real life and then realised it was because he'd knocked me off the track and ruined my win on several occasions so i stepped away from the game for a while lol.

I'm actually really excited about this season. Anyone know how the practice session went today? I just read that Nico and Michael did well but they didn't say how well, or how anyone else went. I really don't know which cars are looking good and posting good times because i've tried to stay away from it so i can be suprised by the results this weekend like i was last year with Brawn, but i think i'm probably gonna cave now.

I'd say go if you get the chance because it is great being there. I can't speak for Singapore but at Silverstone it's just really great to experience the atmosphere and see the cars up close in real life. I see your point about the cost though, it's a bit of a problem with this sport. I think most make a loss/just break even or make a small profit.

ETA: I love how as i clicked to come into this thread the BBC F1 2010 advert came on tv lol.

Brucas4life

I'm so excited for the new season. It looks like it's going to be much more competitive than last year.

As for the practice session, well in the second one Nico came top, followed by Lewis, then Michael then Jensen, but in the first one the Ferrari's were higher up and I think Sutil possibly came top.. It's hard to really tell much from them but I really want to believe they provide some insight as to how the teams will perform as I'm hoping for McLaren to be on top this year.

Edit: Qualifying Results

1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:55.029 1:53.883, 1:54.101
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:55.313 1:54.331 1:54.242
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:54.612 1:54.172 1:54.608
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.341 1:54.707 1:55.217
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:55.463 1:54.682 1:55.241
6 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:55.298, 1:54.318 1:55.284
7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:55.593 1:55.105 1:55.524
8 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.715 1:55.168 1:55.672
9 Robert Kubica Renault 1:55.511 1:54.963 1:55.885
10 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:55.213 1:54.996 1:56.309
11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Toyota 1:55.969 1:55.330
12 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:55.628 1:55.653
13 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Toyota 1:56.375, 1:55.857
14 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber 1:56.428 1:56.237
15 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:56.189 1:56.265
16 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber 1:56.541 1:56.270
17 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:56.167 1:56.619
18 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:57.071
19 Timo Glock Virgin Racing 1:59.728
20 Jarno Trulli Lotus F1 1:59.852
21 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus F1 2:00.313
22 Lucas di Grassi Virgin Racing 2:00.587
23 Bruno Senna Hispania Racing F1 2:03.240
24 Karun Chandhok Hispania Racing F1 2:04.904

welshgirlyUK

I don't know how i feel about this race yet. I enjoyed how close everything was and that there wasn't this spaced out scattering of front runner cars like the beginning of last year, where there was almost no competition up front during the race. Although Vettel was flying before that incident so it was and wasn't.

I miss the fuel strategies and the pace, it all just seems so slow now with the fuel weighing down so heavy on the car and with them all being so careful not to push the car too much to preserve the tires. I'm also gutted for Vettel, semi disappointed in Mclaren, pleased for Massa to come back from his horrific injury last year and place second. I also really desperately want Nico Rosberg to do well this year so I hope the car gets that little extra push to get right up there.

Can i just say i adore Chandhok. Every time the BBC interviewed him he just came across as such a lovely guy.

What did you all make of the changes made to the track?

Brucas4life

I wasn't that impressed with the race today, I'm not sure it was the track or the new rules, or a combination of both. Hearing driver's saying they wre holding back to protect tyres rather than racing isn't really what you want to hear, and I didn't think there were hardly any overtaking opportunities on the track. Why they decided to start the season there I don't know.

After qualifying I was concerned about McLaren, they're not bad but they are a bit behind Ferrari, that much is very clear, so I thought Lewis did extremely well to get 3rd place, it's a shame he lost his posiition early on as it would have been nice to have seen if he could have at least put some pressure on Ferrari.

Well done to Lotus for having a driver actually finish the race, I'm really pleased for them.

I liked the refuelling before but I didn't like them weighing all the cars and telling you practically what lap each car would have been coming in on, I liked the surprise element, with teams guessing from times they were running light on fuel etc. I can see the advantages of only using pit stops for mainly tyre changes but there doesn't seem to be so much racing now, at least certainly not today there wasn't.

welshgirlyUK

Exactly, that's why I’m finding it difficult to establish how i feel about it right now since, whilst it's clear the drivers weren't pushing and racing so hard and competitively because of their tires, I think a certain aspect of the lack lustre nature of the whole thing may lie with the track being so dull and having so few over taking opportunities. But then you have to factor in that a lot of the tracks now, particularly the new one's are the same in regards to low over taking opportunities, so that combined with just how slow the cars are and how resistant the drivers are to push because of tire pressure, it's not looking like a very exciting season right now. I guess we'll have to see a few more races before we get a real feel for it.

goodnightboy

Have to agree with you two - it was a processional race, I have no idea why they nixed Melbourne for Bahrain for the season opener. It was boring! Hardly any excitement in the front but for Vettel's mechanical problem (I felt so bad for him, but it happens). All the overtaking was happening at the back. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy overtaking wherever it may happen, but if it happened in the front that'd be a bit more exciting! As it is there was hardly any racing to begin with. I also noticed how slow and cautious the drivers were, hopefully that'll change once they get used to having heavy cars a few races into the season.

May I just say how lovely it is to see Felipe Massa back!

All the new teams - sigh. The Star Sports presenters were talking about how we should give them a few races to bed in before judging them, which I think is ridiculous. If you get a place from the FIA it's your damn duty to make sure you're ready in time for the season opener. That's why it's called the season opener. If you haven't done any testing prior to qualifying/racing like Chandhok, I'm not going to feel sorry for you (not that I have anything against him though, he seems a nice guy - but can I also mention how annoying it is to hear the commentators I have gush about him so much just because he's Asian/they know him. Shut up! I don't feel this need to support him just because he's Asian!).

Anyway. I actually supported the refuelling ban because it made Q3 a farce (not to mention the amount of fuel they have to burn), so hopefully the boring race wasn't due to the lack of fuelling at pitstops. By the way, what do you guys think of the FOM feed? I hate it. The qualifying sessions don't have the leaderboard on the left, like they used to, so I have no idea who's where; and now the pitstop is counted from the time a driver enters the pitlane to when he exits. Why can't they just show the time the driver is stationary? Now it's slow and sometimes I remember seeing it looked screwed up. Argh.

Sorry, I'm a bit more bitter than I realised. About McLaren vs Ferrari - I actually thought McLaren would win, but they look slower than Ferrari and now I have a sneaking suspicion that Alonso's going to win it all. Mercedes are surprisingly blah as well, although it was nice to see Rosberg beat Schumacher. And to end off, although sadly on a not-any-happier note: it doesn't look like it's going to be a good season for me as a Timo supporter looking at the reliability issues in the Virgin, looking at the decent pace of the Renault - why, Timo, why?

goodnightboy

Sorry for the double post, ignore!

welshgirlyUK

The only way i can see them slightly improving the situation is to scrap the regulation that limits the type of tyres and how many their allowed to use during a race. I think if the teams were allowed a greater amount of tyres during a race then the drivers might be less cautious about tearing the treds up.

Honestly, i think Bernie and co spend too much time trying to fix things that aren't broken and adding regulations that weren't needed, when they should be urging teams to manufacture cars with a reduction in the amount of turbelent air they create, so cars can get closer to each other and allow more overtaking. I'm not even sure if that can be done, but it would be great if that was explored, rather than scrapping refuelling and implementing silly tyre regulations.

goodnightboy

But the problem wasn't that they were cautious - yes, they were, which added to the slowness of the start, but the super-softs were too good. They weren't disintegrating like everyone thought it would, so the medium tyres had no real advantage. So a lot of people did one stop instead of two or whatever. So everyone was stopping around the same time. I know a lot of people want to get back to refuelling but I agree with Bernie (!), you need to give it time.

What the biggest obstacle for overtaking is, for me, the aerodynamics of each car. Because of the double diffusers and the huge downforce the cars are spewing horrible air which really affects the car behind so the cars behind don't dare to try to overtake if they can't be certain it'll work. So we hardly have any overtaking. If they want to increase overtaking they have to have spec aero or to disallow stuff like a double diffuser (which they are thankfully doing next season, although it's a bit too late).

It's Timo's birthday today, happy birthday! And also I have bought my tickets for the Singapore race I know it's not going to be very exciting but just seeing and hearing the cars should be magical. I can't wait! Bay grandstand, yellow section. YAY!

Brucas4life

I hope it's a good race this year in Singapore for you.

Well you would have thought teams would have checked their fuel tanks were large enough to get them through every race. Apparently not though.

Source: BBC

welshgirlyUK

That is a hugely embarrassing mistake for Virgin to have made. They are so unbelievably underprepared.

This was a hell of an exciting race, and I’m so pleased for Jenson. I thought Kubica had an incredible race, he did great. I was also really pleased with the driving of Lewis but I just can’t understand why McLaren pulled him in, there was no need for it. I understand his frustration with the team right now; it was such a stupid call. But Jenson, hell of a call by him to change his tyres so early on. He took a huge gamble and it really paid off. Alonso did well to clamber up into the race so quickly after that first mistake on turn 1 cost him so dearly but I can’t blame Massa for not letting him past. I’m so happy for Massa to come back from such a serious injury and get 2 podium finishes straight off.

Mark, wow. He just makes far too many mistakes like that for my liking. He’s not a new young rookie driver; he has no excuse for pulling these stunts. I don't know if it's him or his team (thinking of some of the dangerous things they pulled in the pit's last year by releasing him into oncoming traffic) or a combination of both. There's being a fighter and then there's just being plain stupid. And poor Vettel, that’s twice now he’s got the lead and lost it because of a car failure. He must be so frustrated.

Brucas4life

I agree with everything you have said.

Such a contrast to the last race which I'm very thankful for, so much overtaking, it was exciting to watch.

Delighted for Jensen, but gutted for Lewis, I though he drove amazingly and deserved to place high than he did, the team really let him down with that decision to pit again, and then Webber driving into him just topped it all off really. Still finishing 6th wasn't bad considering he started 11th. We all know Lewis is harder on tyres than Jensen and perhaps that played a part in why Lewis was brought in and Jensen wasn't.

That's two pole positions for Vettel and he hasn't been able to convert either into a podium, he really is unlucky.

Probably my favourite moment of the race and the most exciting, at least for me, was when it was Massa - Hamilton - Alonso- Webber, Lewis got the jump on Massa, and Webber snuck past Alonso, great overtaking, and it was great to see Ferrari and McLaren fighting it out.

And I'm pleased for Kubica, he had a great race, and I don't think anyone thought he would be on the podium.