So did I, but I expect to enjoy the effects of the changes. No refueling means bigger fuel tanks which means fairly significant redesign of the cars and we know that can shake things up. It means the cars will have to be flexible enough to deal with big changes in weight and weight distribution throughout each race and you know the teams' suspension solutions will differ, which should have even greater impacts. Some cars will struggle more when heavy, some when light, which may mean relative pace will change from car to car as races progress. Everyone will have trouble with tire management (esp. early in the race) at the same time they're sweating fuel consumption. Imagine the drama during the latter part of a race as one or more of the leading cars suddenly need(s) to dial back and conserve fuel and the chasing cars are getting faster every lap....IF they're not conserving their tires...

There'll still be plenty of tire changes. Some will try to make less stops next year because they want to take advantage of not having to waste time stopping for fuel and some of those will have to change stratefies mid-race when they find the tires didn't hold up early in the race. Some will plan to stop often to take advantage of having good tires all race long. I read they'll again be forced to use two tire compounds each race...wonder whether all the compounds will be adjusted to help deal with the lack of warmers and weight of the cars at race starts. The changing weights ought to alter teams' choices of which tires are best early vice later in a race.

The new tire management issues may begin to have less effects as the season progresses and the teams come to grips, and then the next year there'll be a new tire supply and it'll start all over again. Remember how much trouble teams had when switching between Bridgestone and Michelin season to season? Same when Michelin dropped out and all the Michelin teams had to adapt to Bridgestone compounds...and complained that Ferrari and other B-stone runners would have an advantage.

 

Zippy, as in Berta's name for Alan in 2 1/2 Men? I'd be rather unhappy, too!

 

It's an interesting thought--a specially strong reason not to come in for tire changes. Which means there will probably be even more races decided on the full wet/intermediate conundrum.

Michael's car is now over 1.6 Million Euros--nearly $4,000,000. That's not pocket change!

 

Kurv, all good points. I'm sure it will still be very entertaining. That first race in Bahrain is going to be crazy. Kind of the same way Australia was crazy this year. Teams aren't going to know how the tires are going to behave in the heat and sand. They aren't going to account for something and there's going to be a metric ****-tonne of attrition, much of which will be attributed to fuel. I'm predicting 6 cars to finish the race.

 

Exactly the thought that ran through my head...

I think you're on your own Deb...probably not going to find any takers here for your kind offer of letting us go in on it with you and then keep it at your place. Don't let it get away though! It's only money, keep bidding!

 

A bold prediction, esp. since no one is actually certain yet how many teams/cars will be on the grid at the start of the season... In fact, all those junior teams (if they make it to the first race) may contribute to the carnage/attrition.

I know what you mean though. The only thing I think is certain is that the Steve Matchette types will have no idea what to expect. I imagine the first race predictions/"story lines" will all be about uncertainty and unknowns.

 

Uh oh. The listing has been yanked, with the dreaded "listing canceled" message. Normally this sort of thing happens when there's been a suspected fraud of some sort, not that the item has been purchased or otherwise removed from the market, or that there's an error.

Guess I'll have to call my banker in the morning and tell him to forget about completing my loan paperwork...

 

I just remembered another related change that should contribute to all this tires and refueling ban biz. The front tires will be narrower. When they switched back from grooved to slick, the percentage gain in surface/contact area for the fronts was greater than it was for the rears, which caused setup issues, etc, for some (most?) teams because they couldn't easily deal with the relative lack of grip at the rear without compromising something else...esp. early in the season.

The narrower fronts should allow better, more traditional balance, but it still means less overall rubber/contact area than they got used to this year, and both of these (and the aero effect change caused by narrower tires up front) are additional factors for developers to consider.

All rhetoric aside though, McMerc claim their '10 car is already quicker than their '09 car. That's pretty impressive if true. I don't suppose they're using narrower fronts yet. It also tells us nothing about how the thing will work over a full race distance fighting fuel loads, tire wear, other cars, etc.

I'm really looking forward to the next season...too bad it's nearly 120 days away...

 

Interesting articles:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/161120...-brawn-gp.html

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/161120...l-win-win.html

How many more? Is India still building a track? Turkey has had attendance problems. Here's the latest :

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/161120...m-tatters.html

And---drumrolls, please:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/161120...mula-line.html

And an interesting interview:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/111120...-incident.html

Wonder what the 2010's will look like. Hope they'll look & work better than 2009's. I see we will have a new track next year--Korea. And Canada's back!

 

The new Silver Arrow...sort of.

 

From that angle it looks good, but it's hard to tell if it has the picnic-table sized front wing. Lordy, I hope not.

 

Holy carp.

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to make British F1 superteam.

Is this for reals?

 

Everyone seems to agree it's all but inevitable but that's the first article I've read implying the deal is finally done. I'll wait for confirmation from McLaren. In related news, Raikkonen's manager just announced negotiations w/ McLaren broke down so Kimi will take a sabbatical in 2010.....

 

Yup. It was in the link I posted Monday. Word is Ross Brawn and Button had a falling out over bucks.

 

Yep, they've been having that falling out over bucks for weeks...probably months, but the two sides only started leaking details (likely each trying to force the other's hand) starting a couple weeks ago. Unless I missed something, even that article you posted Mon was only speculating (albeit strongly) as far as which drivers would end up where. Every reputable article I can find even at this hour save the one STLMINI posted still says the deal is something like inevitable, on the verge, about to be signed or, at the most, done but unconfirmed.

Don't get me wrong, like everyone else (other than Ross Brawn who's in denial) I get the feeling it's a cert, but I'm still waiting for a direct announcement from either McLaren or Button. I don't think I'll be waiting long...

 

As I suspected, the wait was very brief.

Button to race for McLaren in 2010 (formula1.com)

... and the first couple paragraphs of the article ...

 

Button says he switched to McLaren for the challenge, even though he'll make less money. I don't believe it. I sort of buy wanting a change (vice challenge) since it hasn't been just a year at Brawn but a few years at Honda/Brawn...he did mention wanting to step out of his comfort zone so that fits. I'm much more willing to believe it's because he thinks the McLaren will be a better car than the Mercedes next year but he doesn't want to admit that's his motive.

 

Ha! And Anna Nichole married for love.

I'm surprised all of the sudden he's worried about money. He stuck with that team when they had a TERRIBLE car. They finally win the championship, and he leaves?

If I had gone through that, and they didn't want to give me a bajillion dollars, who cares? I wouldn't have been the one that fixed the teams problems. Brawn was.

 

Ha! And Anna Nichole married for love.

I'm surprised all of the sudden he's worried about money. He stuck with that team when they had a TERRIBLE car. They finally win the championship, and he leaves?

If I had gone through that, and they didn't want to give me a bajillion dollars, who cares? I wouldn't have been the one that fixed the teams problems. Brawn was.

 

The only challenge I see in switching to McLaren, other than adapting to the culture, is racing Hamilton on even (maybe) terms. If it's true that he could have gotten the same money from either team then I figure his real motive is he thinks the McLaren will be a better car than the Merc but he doesn't want to admit it out loud because it's like telling friends he left behind that he has no confidence in their abitlity to repeat.

 

Rosberg was confirmed as signing with Merc. That's been expected for weeks now so why is Haug still talking about how their driver choice will surprise people? Speculative hype (with Eddie Jordan as the "reliable source" fanning the flames) says it's going to be Schumacher. I also read an article at Bleacher Report citing a "reliable source" that says they already signed Raikkonen.

 

Just passing this along...

https://www.questback.com/haymarketm...td/p1k3oyqukz/

 

Sauber's going to buy his team back from BMW, if the team gets a place next year: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin.../11/10244.html

 

Latest version of the FIA's official list of 2010 entrants is to be released Monday.

 

As expected:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/271120...it-f1-wrc.html

Also Canada is a (almost certain) go for 2010.

More on Michael:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/formul.../article/1385/

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/281120...chumacher.html

Somehow I can't visualize him in silver, especially against the boys in red. I'd love to see him back in the hunt, though.