Absolutely, big difference. As I understand it, they got into trouble when they said they'd never had the radio conversation. Which is strange--they HAVE to know that their transmissions are heard--even Speed Channel comments about them.

 

Hamilton is obviously proving that he is a world class driver supported by the fact that Heikki isn't fairing very well with a bad car (the fuel ain't helping either)

Hopefully all of this spy and lie crap is over and done with for a long time.

Vettel is certainly showing he's the real deal too....

Jens....well....Jens has always been there, BAR and Honda would not have kept him on for so long if he wasn't WDC material.

What a great year of racing !

On the dumb side, we cap budgets then force teams to race without refueling and potentially threaten the drivers lives with no tire warmers......causing them to spend more money to develop the car further........whatever

 

+1

 

2nd

 

I hate the thought (reality?) of no fueling. The driver isn't the only one involved in the championship. Give a "little" credit to those who help out by strategy and pit action.

So, one tire is going the distance? Right.

Here are a couple of interesting articles:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/300420...rmit-cars.html

And I think Bernie is missing a bet--he should have added "sexual fetishist" to allow Max to run, too:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/300420...sh-driver.html

I honestly wonder about the man. My mother has Alzheimers now. I think Bernie has joined her.

F1:

 

How does using one tire follow from no refueling? I didn't see anything about single tires for the race, just a ban on refueling and a ban on tire warmers. There will still be pit stops for tire changes, etc.

 

Have you actually seen anything verifying this? Bernie's likely to do anything, up to AND including making the driver sit upside-down.

 

The current rules allow tire changes, and the new rules haven't changed that. That's verification enough for me. Where have you seen a ban on tire changes in the new rules? The only thing I saw was the ban on warmers, but that doesn't imply eliminating tire changes.

Bernie can say what he wants. It's up to the FIA to change the rules.

 

Incidentally, I’m just fine with the refueling ban. Maybe taking away that aspect will make drivers more focused on earning a pass on the track, rather than hoping they gain position as a result of pit strategy. Pitting for tires will add a new element of surprise, since that won’t be predicated on the need for fuel, which everyone had predicted — more or less — in advance

 

On the other hand, if refueling is prohibited, that would drop speeds WAY down. Look how conservative fuel burns are behind the safety car. Do you really want that? Actually, they still need to refuel even when a substantial number of laps are behind the SC.

And what about drivers running out on the track? Could be a real yawner when no cars are moving and there are 15 laps to go. I guess they'd go by the "time" rule, then.

 

Some of the most exciting F1 racing I've ever seen, was in the years BEFORE refueling and tire changes. All those great dices in the days of Gilles Villeneuve, Pironi, Hunt, Andretti, etc? All without refueling or tire changes (unless it rained)

I'd love to see a return to that.

 

I would think that if people are conserving fuel for the first part of the race, it could be a real procession. Until, that is, they've conserved enough fuel, and then I would think the racing could be great.

The thing is, I think the racing is great now. Why?!?! Why change anything?! Keep it the same for a while. GAAAWWWWW! FRIGGIN OLD PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I don't think your doom and gloom scenario will come to pass. They'll just carry more fuel. The cars will be heavier at the beginning, but laps times will start to go down towards the end of the race. They all still want to win, so they will race and not line up behind each other at safety car paces, nor even close.

I think what they should do to make it a little more interesting is award a championship point for fastest race lap.

 

Carrying more fuel is a double-edged sword. Not only will the vehicle weight be heavier, it will dictate design far more than today. There is, for example, the question of WHERE to put all that extra fuel within the precise dictates of the car dimensions. And there is far more potential for injury with more fuel on board.

I'm with you, ben--let's keep things as they are for a while. Too many changes = no incentive to keep racing for all but the most well-heeled teams. Would YOU want to spend that much money designing a car that will be obsolete the next year? I don't mean obsolete in the "let's improve it" sense, but obsolete in the "new sheet of paper" sense. And Bernie says he wants to limit design costs???

But don't say nasty things about old people. Just wait--some day you'll be senile, too!

 

The racing over the past five years has been great....the past two years some of the best. Much of this can be contributed to the series having some of the best talent ever combined with great cars.

I agree, why change anything ? Seems to me you can hide development cost in other companies, I can't imagine it could be policed.

There was mention that F1 waste money......I doubt that, they hire the best drivers and engineers, you can be certain they have the best bean counters too.

Do they live on the extravagant side.....well yeah....duh.....its F1.....C'mon Bernie....when's the last time you stayed at Motel 6 ?

 

When we were at Ferrari's museum last year (don't bother), we were told that 1/3 of their employees work on F1. That's an incredible number!

 

LOL, so if I'm young, I'm eccentric. If I'm old, I'm senile.

On the topic of them wasting money, that's exactly what they're doing when the FIA introduce a radical new/old concept to "spice up the show". From 05-08 it was great. There really weren't any big rule changes from the car design standpoint, with exception to V10s to V8s and gearboxes. Even years going back to 98, the first year on grooved tires and the new (back then) car dimensions that were to be followed, the rules didn't change a whole lot. Yeah, the FIA had the teams raise and narrow the front wing, but essentially the cars' aerodynamics didn't change and they got faster with all the little bits that the teams added.

And I agree that occasionally stuff will start to get stale, kind of the way IRL has, and you need to shake it up. But shaking it up constantly and then stomping around like a toddler whining about how expensive it is, is just ridiculous.

On a side-note, I'm curious what the Brawn Team's budget is for this year. Anyone heard anything on that?

 

I wasn't able to find it, although I did find this:

http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-new...s?artid=106925

BTW, know what Brawn was during when he took time off? Fishing. All over the world!

 

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...05182818.shtml

It's pretty obvious to me that the Bernie and Max show are trying to divide the FOTA with this two-tier system. Hopefully the FOTA realize this and remain united. I feel they're good for the series and provide a crucial checks and balance to the FIA and FOM.

 

Let's keep our fingers crossed McLaren will join in. If so, and especially if one or two other teams expresses an interest, Bernie and Max would be fools to continue with the plan.

Then again, when has the Bernie & Max circus ever made sense?

 

Isn't it obvious that F1 is F1 because fans like to see technology pushed to the limit ? If they cap budgets, set specs and reduce speeds they're just GP2 or "any other" open wheel type racing. F1 is the pinnacle, why not keep it there ? Fans flock to F1 to see Ferrari, BMW, Mclaren, Honda, Cosworth (returning soon) and the like.

Its the talented drivers, the dedicated teams, its the history making, its the glitz and glamour.........look how exciting it was to watch Alonso and Renault topple Schu and Ferrari That's how it should be.

 

Personally, I think the cap idea could be a good one if it was properly executed. By "properly executed", I mean that with the advantaged the capped teams are given, that it basically can bring them up to level that the big teams are at.

The "properly executed" part is the biggest issue here then. The only thing Mosely has properly executed lately is a black leather......ah you get the idea.

But, it still brings me back to my original point. The racing is fantastic now. The team leading the championship is on a shoestring budget. Why change it up?

 

I ran the pre-reace weights through the spreadsheet again to see about how many laps of fuel they have on board. At Bahrain most cars came in within a lap or 2 of the prediction.

1. Jenson Button 15
2. Sebastian Vettel 17
3. Rubens Barrichello 16
4. Felipe Massa 19
5. Mark Webber 17
6. Timo Glock 15
7. Jarno Trulli 19
8. Fernando Alonso 15
9. Nico Rosberg 23
10. Robert Kubica 20
11. Kazuki Nakajima 27
12. Nelson Piquet 27
13. Nick Heidfeld 26
14. Lewis Hamilton 29
15. Sebastien Buemi 27
16. Kimi Raikkonen 25
17. Sebastien Bourdais 24
18. Heikki Kovalainen 19
19. Adrian Sutil 26
20. Giancarlo Fisichella 19

 

Nice little chart here. Will be fun to see how it plays out. Thanks for posting.

 

The more I think of the proposed no-refuel rule, the sicker I get. Do you realize what this will mean? Gas weighs 6 pounds per gallon. Off season many of the drivers work their tails off trying to take off every pound, and this year some of the teams offered their drivers a choice between KERS with the extra boost, but also extra weight, and no KERS, with no boost but no extra weight.

So, now we have the situation where one massive load of gas is supposed to go the distance. Aside from the question of whether drivers will be racing or driving Miss Daisy, there is the question of exactly WHERE all this extra fuel will go. KERS will probably take a hit, simply because there's no room and no weight allowance for it. Ferrari, for example, buries the KERS system inside the fuel tank.

Add to that the domino effect of adding more total weight--nearly everything will need to be modified or strengthened in some form--there's also the question of how to handle the weights and balances. Fuel burn might change the CG, for example, if multiple tanks are required. Fire potential? Don't ask.

Add to that all the costly development work that Bernie claims he's trying to save, and I can't help but think there's nobody home in that shaggy dome.