Oh, I agree--just mentioned it as a joke. As he is. Well, I'm sure he could drive rings around the rest of us, but you know what I mean...

 

Happy New Year, everyone!

As for the new season, looks like things are already in trouble at Mercedes:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/010120...s-rosberg.html

My advice to Michael? Stay cool and prove yourself (again).

My advice to Nico? Don't sound like a whiner (already).

 

Probably best to note the "according to reports from Argentina" bit, but this isn't the first time I've read of the Lopez connection to F1 or the money/sponsorship required to secure a seat.

Lopez closing on USF1 deal, Rossiter for second seat?
2010-01-04
By Motorsport.com/GMM

 

As far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on Nico. We'll see how he does. He kind of seems like spoiled pretty-boy.

I never liked Ferrari or Schumacher. Once he left, somehow Ferrari didn't seem as bad. He always just seemed....like a spoiled boy...but he wasn't pretty. He always had to get his way. I remember, because I've got it recorded, in the 2002 Australian GP that he said Trulli should have let him by because he was faster. They were racing for 2nd place at the time. A-hole.

However, with him making a comeback, I am curious to see how it pans out for him. I mean, he's middle aged now. Practically old enough to retire. Fetch his carbon fibre wheelchair and high octane Centrum Silvers.

 

Briatore's latest:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/050120...verturned.html

Mad Max strikes again! Incidentally, a followup article on this site says he'll probably sue Piquet.

Interesting article on F1's role in technological advances:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/formul.../article/1608/

It is a position I've been taking for some time, and I lay it squarely at the feet of Ecclestone.

 

More on Renault:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/070120...ean-hopes.html

Villeneuve??? And they call Michael old? Granted he's a couple of years older, but at least he has a bit more talent.

As for the Max/Briatore war:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/070120...ter-think.html

 

Progress for USF1!!!

*Warning* F1 Nasal Carnage Video Content!!!

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...est-for-us-f1/

 

Anyone catch the stuff about Bernie wanting to introduce shortcuts on tracks?

Time to hang it up ol' feller.

 

Hang it up? How 'bout lock him up?

Here's what ben's talking about:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/140120...shortcuts.html

Can you imagine the logistics of administering the 5 times per year in the heat of battle? The mind boggles.

Incidentally, did you catch the bit about him palling around with Alonso? Unless he does this with the rest of the gang, seems to be a bit of favoritism. Or is it brought over from the Ferrari-Is-King days?

 

I can see USF1 in the pits at the first race, with a sign on the cars: DRIVERS WANTED. ENQUIRE WITHIN.

 

Me! Pick me!

If you want your car smooshed, that is.

 

Oops--duplicate post!

 

Interesting article:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/200120...dd-number.html

There's only one odd number better than 3...

And apparently the rumors aren't going away:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/190120...stefan-gp.html

 

Kissing up?

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/230120...team-mate.html

 

USF1 finally has it's first driver:

"The North Carolina-based US team have confirmed that Jose Maria Lopez will race for them this season. Lopez, who has previously tested for Renault, will be the 24th Argentine Formula One driver in the history of the world championship.

“Securing ‘Pechito’ Lopez for our debut season has been a goal of ours for a long time,” said the team’s vice president Peter Windsor. “We’ve been following his career since he dominated the Renault V6 Championship in 2003 and we’re thrilled to have him on board as we return America to Formula One. Lopez is a consummate professional and born leader.

“The most revealing thing about his character was how he handled the disappointment of not racing for Renault after three years of testing with them in F1. Instead of moping around and feeling sorry for himself, he returned to Argentina and totally dominated the local scene, winning 38 races and three championships. He became a major star as a result and, in turn, the Argentine nation - a country where F1 is second only to soccer - has got behind him.”

Lopez’s contract was officially announced by the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, in the Casa Rosada (Government House) in Buenos Aires. The 26 year-old will be the South American country’s first Formula One driver since Gaston Mazzacane made 21 race appearances for Minardi and Prost during the 2000/01 seasons.

“This is a truly memorable day for me, my family and the people of Argentina,” said Lopez. “I have been working towards this day for much of my life and I can’t thank Peter and Ken (Anderson) enough for this opportunity. Of course a new F1 team faces many challenges but our goal is to improve with each race and build a foundation that will eventually see this team competing for wins and championships.”

Lopez started karting aged just seven and switched to single-seater racing in 2001. A year later he won the 2002 Italian Formula Renault championship with four wins, five poles and three podiums and scored an additional two victories in the European Formula Renault series. He went on to dominate the European Formula Renault V6 championship in 2003, taking five wins and eight poles positions.

In 2004 he took a solitary podium in F3000 and switched to GP2 for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. During his time in the Formula One feeder series he clinched one victory and six podiums, whilst simultaneously testing regularly for Renault. Lopez returned to Argentina in 2007 and since then has taken three championships, 38 wins and 36 pole positions in his home country.

“So many things go into starting a Formula One team from scratch,” added team principal Ken Anderson. “You can nail every step along the way but if you don’t have the right guys in the seats, everything else is for naught. With Jose Maria Lopez we have further positioned ourselves for a successful 2010 debut campaign.”

The US team are yet to announce who will partner Lopez."

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...0/1/10363.html

 

If one wants to generate fan interest in the U.S. (not to mention attracting US companies to the sponsorship table) then USF1 has to get some driving talent on board from the good ole US of A! Here's hoping that Mr. Windsor and company can do what they tout so heavily... Putting the U.S. in USF1!

I can understand hiring a driver who comes armed with sponsorship money, as it makes fiscal sense in a sport that is unfortunately driven too much by the almighty dollar (or euro, or yen, etc.) but I think that Peter Windsor meant South America when he stated that USF1 wants to return America to F1.


OK, here's wishing and hoping that we get some US talent on board at USF1... Graham Rahal, the Bat Signal is up and we need a hero to carry the Stars & Stripes into the F1 wars...

Marco Andretti... Indycar is a waste of your talent! Do what grandpa Mario would love to see... Get into F1 before you become moribund in a little watched domestic series running spec-cars!

How about drivers like J.R. Hildebrand or Alexander Rossi? They have demonstrated talent behind the wheel. I hope that Peter Windsor gives them consideration! We need an American driver at USF1

 

Well things just get more interesting as time goes by... Here comes news on the use of tires in F1 for 2010...




The top ten qualifiers in 2010 will have to start Grands Prix with the same tires used at the end of Q3, according to reports.

Reports, including in Switzerland's Motorsport Aktuell, the Spanish sports newspaper Marca and Finland's Turun Sanomat, said the decision was made at a recent meeting of the teams association FOTA.

Previously, the top ten could decide to change to a different set of their allocated tires for the start of the race, with the only stipulation being that both types of compounds be used at least once.

Motorsport Aktuell says the move, which will be rubber-stamped by the F1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council next week, will add a strategic element in order to make races more exciting.

Marca said that "most" of the teams at the FOTA meeting voted for the rule change and that the approval of the subsequent bodies is "likely to be a formality".

Turun Sanomat said teams will have to consider whether to use soft tires for a high grid position, because the same tires need to be used with the hefty initial race fuel load.



This should prove to be interesting during qualifying and in the early stages of the race.

 

American driver or not, the US team desperately needs a development driver.

 

Well Gromit, I don't expect USF1 to look any further... Jose Maria Lopez is (or will be)their development driver.

 

Testing or not, I wonder who did the best development on the car? Lopez or Alonso?

 

I'm going to assume that you're asking whom I think did the best testing (your query is a bit confusing due to its wording/omissions).

My first impulse would be to offer Alonso as having done the best development on the Renault, yet being a test driver, Lopez has more testing miles under his belt than Alonso. Now, that does not necesarily make him better (i.e. faster) but what it does do is allow Lopez to better discern and evaluate the changes wrought on the car.

Lopez has the advantage of being able to appraise successive changes during a test allowing him to get a better feel as to which alterations make the car faster and which ones lead to a dead-end in terms of performance.

Being a good test driver means that you are quick, but more importantly that you are able to convey to the engineers what the car is doing (even in this age of data acquisition and real time telemetry).

Ultimately, Alonso is the beneficiary of that work (right or wrong) and in my opinion the only reason that the Renault was able to be in the top 10 was that Fernando was pedaling as fast as he could... Alonso's skill made up for the R-29's short-comings.

So, is the R-29's performance the sum total of poor testing? Did Lopez fail to do his job adequately resulting in a non-competitive car? Well, it is food for thought isn't it?

Apparently Renault was happy with the work that Lopez did or he would not have lasted with the Regie for 3 years. I would say that Renault is in a better position, to determine a test driver's worth, than myself, BUT, if I had my druthers, I'd rather have Fernando Alonso testing and racing my F1 machine rather than (with all due respect) Jose Maria Lopez.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Lopez, and I hope he does well.

But if USF1 doesn't get an American driver in there, they're NOT going to get the American public behind them. Remember, in this nation of NASCRAP, people follow the driver, not the team.

 

Well spoken sir and so true... sadly so true.

 

And now we have our first Russian driver, Vitaly Petrov. For Renault.

Kubica - Polish
Petrov - Russian

This should be interesting.

 

Alonso started out as a test driver, after his first season with Minardi (2001), in 2002. So Fred has some street cred on testing abilities. The next year, 2003, he and Trulli did a lot of the preseason testing and netted the new Renault team their first 2 wins at Monaco and Hungary.