Having just watched Friday's practice I have one thing to say; those cars

and I mean all those cars are just fugly. They make Dee Snyder look very

attractive.

 

Having just watched Friday's practice I have one thing to say; those cars

and I mean all those cars are just fugly. They make Dee Snyder look very

attractive.

 

In thinking about it, you might just have the answer as to why the also-rans are on top (in practice, anyway). Could it be they don't have the horsepower to outdrive the grip? If so, that's a driver problem, and they'll catch up.

Discussion?

 

I like this one:

Q: On what part of the track do you use the KERS system?
KR: Wherever I want.

 

I knew that you only had 6.6 seconds of KERS to use. But from a strategic point of view, it didn't occur to me that you could be on the button once you make the pit straight, use it up and when you cross the line, you'll be refilled, if you've got enough capacity in your batteries. So, theoretically you could have 13.2 seconds on the home straight to pass or prevent being passed.

Pre-race show starts in 9 min.

 

Wow what a race. This will be an interesting season.

 

Well, it was a weird race, anyway. And those cars...butt ugly in previews, and worse in action.

Has there ever been a worse-looking modern-era race car?

Oh, wow--just saw the "provisional" results--Trulli had 25 seconds added to his time for passing the safety car. Lewis winds up in 3rd. Not bad, after starting 18th. Certainly beat out the rest of the "big boys."

 

Depends on what you're willing to consider racing.....if you include some of the cr*p that passes as racing here in the U.S., then yes, I've definitely seen uglier modern-era race cars. But the fact that there are uglier cars around doesn't make these F1 cars gorgeous. Seems like the teams should be trying to come up with color schemes that would downplay some of those uglier bits rather than emphasizing them.

On the plus side, looks like some teams anticipated the ease with which those big front wings could be knocked off and spent some time trying to make them a bit more durable than they've been in the past. I saw some pop off like they're meant to be break-away parts like usual, but not all. Rubens even finished his first stint without having to come in for a nose swap after his first lap incident.

 

Well, I probably should have specified fast open-wheeled race cars. F1, Champ cars, old Indy cars...

 

Open-wheeled like swamp buggies? Just kidding!

I knew what you were thinking, just couldn't pass up an opportunity to mention that it could actually be worse.

Given what you obviously meant though, I couldn't agree more. I only hope they'll start to grow on me a bit as the season wears on.

 

I don't care what the cars look like if the racing gets better, compared to the parades we've had in the past where something bad has to happen for an actual race to ensue.

 

I like the sleeker look...all those fins were getting rediculous.

 

Hear, hear!

I'd be even happier if those racy cars were also good looking, but if the two are mutually exclusive.....I'll put up with a little ugly for the sake of a good race!

 

Did anyone watch Vettel and Kubica's late race "adventure" closely? Vettel was dinged for it but I didn't notice anything that made me think either of them should be considered more at fault than the other.

 

Well, I think they accomplished closer racing and more passing - at least in Round 1. Can't leave well enough alone, though - cripes. I'm all for my Lewis getting more points, but not at Trulli's expense when he said that he pulled over to let him pass. The whole thing is MORE rediculous because The Team told him to do it because they were afraid of getting a stupid penalty (like, um, Trulli got?) for passing Trulli when he went off.
And then poor Vettel. Sure, Kubica was ahead, but only for a split second and Vettel had the line. Should he have lifted - probably - but they wanted closer racing and more differentiation between people with different tyres - they got it! And if they wanted him off the course they could have thrown a black flag his way - fine him when he ignores that.

 

I don't agree with the Vettel penalty either. They were both pushing. It did look like he started to go wide while Kubica was alongside him, but with his tires going it was either that or spin.

I wonder if the new system of a display showing position during the safety car had something to do with Trulli and Hamilton getting mixed up. They definitely had a problem getting things sorted during the first one.

As for the cars I'm with RaceTripper. I'd rather see ugly cars in a good race than pretty cars in a bad one.

 

The only criticism leveled at Kubica was that he should have maybe waited for a better passing opportunity. He certainly had the measure of Vettel.

Amazing result for Brawn. Looks like a real topsy-turvy season to come!

 

That was basically my beef too. Kubica was obviously faster and still had three laps, he did not have to do what he did there.

 

Oh yeah!!!!

 

I watched it again and still can't understand why Vettel was penalized. The fact that Vettel was obviously slower doesn't enter into it.....he wasn't required to concede simply on that basis. It would have been different if they weren't on the same lap, but they were technically racing for position. Last time I checked the way racing works is the faster driver has to pass the slower driver. Looked to me like Vettel was trying to hold his line and neither was willing to concede the corner. Vettel was fighting a losing battle and Kubica was over zealous. I don't know.....do the rules say one driver is required to back off as soon as another gets his nose ahead?

Here's one account of the decision making process, and if it's accurate I think it's pretty lame:

"The FIA said that the decision was made because Vettel had admitted that he was in trouble but wanted to hold his position. Kubica was a little impetuous but the stewards felt that Vettel was to blame."

Here's the article.

 

Wow what race! I really hate the safety car and all of the accidents, but no doubt, they made for an exciting race.

BrawnGP is for real. Amazing. I was thinking over the winter, what is going to happen to Button. Rubens I figured would retire, but Button was still young and never had a chance in his career. Now they are both on top. Crazy.

I still think that Ferrari and McLaren will get their acts together. They were not that far off the pace. Lewis had an amazing drive to score a podium when most were not expecting McLaren to score any points.

Overall I too think the cars are ugly, but the little winglets are gone, slicks are back, KERS is cool, and passing is easier. This will be another great season of Formula One!

 

Ah.....
Cars from the "Good Ol' Days".....







My favorite era for F1 cars.

Jim

 

My wife and I were commenting on the looks of the cars. I think the Brawn cars actually look pretty good. The wings are a bit out of proportion, but the low nose, which is unique compared to the other cars in the field, makes it look better than the rest. All the other cars look awkward, kind of like I did when I was in Junior High. LOL, I was 5'6" with size 12 shoes.

I thought the racing was pretty good, even before the safety car jumbled everything up. The cars with KERS were absolutely electric at the start, no pun intended.....lol, ok pun intended.

I'm not sure on tire situation. I think the teams will find a way to manage the tires and the differences between them will grow smaller, similar to how they did last year. I think there will be more scraps like the one between Vettel and Kubica though.

I don't agree with the 10 spot penalty for Vettel. That just looked like two drivers racing eachother hard and having a racing incident. As previously stated, Vettel was losing grip and looked like he washed into Kubica. On the other hand though, Kubica could have given Vettel a little wider berth around that corner. I dunno, crashes happen and these penalties are getting ridiculous. Pretty soon it will get to the point where Nakajima would have gotten penalized for his accident.

I do feel like with a lot of the rule changes, that F1 is regressing. The aerodynamics with lower front wings and low rear grip make the cars twitchy as we all saw. The more agressive diffusers cause the cars to be very unstable when going over curbs. I'd imagine that's what caused Kazu and Kimi to wreck. And then they mentioned how the pit lane speed limit had been increased. I'm afraid we're going to end up reverting back to a state the way F1 was in the early 90s. Thoughts?

 

Considering that KERS had seemingly no affect on the race, and the fastest cars out there didn't suffer with the extra weight of KERS, I think it will be on the junk heap in F1 garages very soon.

 

You didn't hear the radio transmission (from Glock I think), complaining he couldn't over take because the guy in front (Massa?) kept using KERS? It seems to have its uses.