Hmm... I may be persuaded, with say... ummm, a ticket to the Canadian GP...

 

Right on!

 

After seeing Emmanuelle Pirro's pass in the Drayson Lola on Sebastian Bourdais in the Peugeot 908 at the 12 Hours of Sebring last week & getting bored by Bahrain GP, I'm having a hard time calling Formula 1 racing anymore. I'll take a Le Mans series race over F1 any day of the week now.

F1 is broken and needs fixing before I'll spend money to attend a race again.

 

I agree F1 is broken, but I find it's kind of like when you've been with someone for a long time, and they drive you nuts......but you just have a hard time dumping them. sniff sniff, I just cant dump F1.

 

You know, you may want to wait a bit before clamoring F1 is boring. There's only been one race. Brand new cars and driving skills. Good grief let's see how the season gets on.

 

No relation. Check out the "2nd Gen" threads. For '07 the Cooper and Cooper S (turbo), the car was completely redesigned from the ground up. New engines, suspensions, interior, body. It's said that there are no body panels transferable from 1st Gen to 2nd. The convertibles were similarly overhauled for '09.

If you haven't driven one, you need to. (Said at the risk of inciting WWIII.)
And yes, Bernie sucks.

 

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-...-york-in-2012/

Why? Manhattan? Apologies for any Manhattanites, but seriously. What part of Manhattan says bring a race here? And would it be another street race? Ugh! I think over the years of watching Law and Order, I know New York pretty well and I don't think it would play well. lol, just kidding.

But seriously, wtf? This is right up there with his sceme to have a race in Vegas where part of the track is the Las Vegas Strip.

Deb, now that you mention it, we did test drive a Clubman. I was surprised how much smoother the ride was compared to our '03 Cooper. Because it was a test drive, I didn't get crazy with the handling, so I don't know if it had more or less grip than ours. But I will agree that it would be a better traveling car. I just don't think I could ever buy another Mini. The quality just isn't there in ours, and from all the stuff I've heard, it hasn't improved much with the 2nd gens. Even BMW have had some goofy quality issues that they never used to.

 

Gotta admit that was one slick move that Pirro put on Bourdais using the slower cars as a pick... sweet!

I agree that F1 needs fixing but I also feel that it needs time to be fairly assesed so that it can effectively be repaired.

Your first love is always everlasting... Don't dump F1... just dump Bernie!

Well I agree that the Bahrain race was a bit of a bore and that the F1 field is lacking depth in terms of the teams but there are some stellar drivers in the field (e.g. Alsonso, Hamilton, Schumacher, Vettel, etc.) and as Gromit says, "...there's only been one race... let's see how the season gets on..."

Here's another call for calm for someone more directly involved in the proceedings...

F1: Let’s Wait Before Judging Show, Says Alonso
by Adam Cooper / Posted March 25, 2010 Melbourne (AUS)


Fernando Alonso is calling for calm... says it’s too early to make a call on whether the 2010 F1 rules have ruined the show.

The Spaniard won the opening race in Bahrain on a day when many observers felt the lack of pit stop action made for a dull afternoon.

“We need to be calm, we need to wait some races to really see if the new rules have some impact on the show,” said Alonso in Australia on Thursday. “I don’t think they have any change on the show. Last year, first seven races, Jenson won six of seven. It was boring? Maybe yes, maybe not, this is F1. Michael win five championships consecutive. It was boring? Maybe yes, maybe not, this is F1.

“So if we want to see wet races, if we want to see safety cars, if we want to see all these things every race, it will be not F1 anymore. This is about technology, about how precise everything is in terms of drivers, mechanics, engineering, everything. People that want an extra show, maybe they should reconsider if they want to watch F1.”

Meanwhile Alonso says that Red Bull seems to have an edge on the opposition.

“I think we need a couple of races to understand better the picture. But I still think the same, that maybe performance wise Red Bull is a little bit ahead of everybody now, which is not a surprise, because they finished 2009 very strong, so they keep more or less the momentum.

“But one thing is to be the fastest car, and one thing is to win the race. We will try to push them again as maximum, and I think it will depend also circuit to circuit, as we saw last year.

“Sometimes Brawn GP was very strong, and sometimes they had some difficulties. Hopefully here in Australia we can be strong and we can fight for the win."

 

... Here we go again with Bernie's penchant for street circuits in metro areas...




EEEEK! NOT ANOTHER STREET RACE!!!!

You would have thought that Bernie would have learned something from the disasters at Vegas, Dallas, Phoenix... But I guess as long as he finds some fool who is willing to part with a huge sum of cash to promote this ludicrous attempt, he will be happy and F1 be d@#*%^!

 

A USGP in Jersey? Now they can have authentic Guidos as race officials.

 

I think anytime a street circuit is endorsed, that person should have to spend two weeks in the penalty box: Locked in a small room with Bernie and Max.

 

I think the worst part about that New York idea is that they are so close to the Glen, yet they aren't going to utilize it.

And that Vegas idea I was referencing was from a year or two ago.

The funny thing is that everyone ******* about F1 and Bernie, yet in F1 Racing magazine, they all kiss his a$$. That's why I was hoping Ari Vatennen would have gotten elected. He would have shaken things up....but at the same time, that's probably why he didn't get elected. He would have shaken things up.

 

Bernie's portrait:




Actually "Ben," I've had no trouble with mine, and it was a week 3er. (That knocking you hear isn't the car, it's me, knocking on wood.) I've had Bimmers for years and haven't had trouble with them, either, with the one comment that their cooling systems have vulnerabilities. It wouldn't--hasn't--kept me from buying another one, though.

 

That's what happens when you are the king... It's good to be the king.

Meet the new boss... Same as the old boss!

 

That sounds excruciatingly painful... but I don't know about Max... he may actually enjoy that kind of stuff, you know...

 

That's kind of my point. Some people have had zero issues. Others, like us, have just had a ton of issues. That is pretty much a function of a lack of production control processes. Our car has just over 100k miles, not a significant number by today's standards. And we've had some fairly serious issues. And Mini isn't standing behind their product. They act as though they don't even have a problem, yet they are at the bottom of the list for JD Power & Associates list for quality.

I still haven't had a chance to watch practice. It's recorded and waiting for me.

 

Wow! As boring as Bahrain was, Australia was the polar opposite. I don't know what it is about that track. It doesn't have any particularly long straights. It doesn't have any Eau Rouge or Turn 8 type of high speed corners. Despite all this, Albert Park always yields an entertaining race.

Sure, the rain helps, as it always does. But there were some seriously good battles. I was glad Webber didn't get penalized for taking himself and Hamilton into the kitty litter.

I'm not sure what Hamilton's deal was on the radio.

I was also happy to see Chandhok finish for HRT.

 

Bahrain is always boring. It's a mind numbing Tilke POS track. Seems like Melbourne always has a good race. This one was awesome.

I thought Button, Alonso, and Schu were all gracious about the first corner whoopsie. Lewie the Brat however, after bitching his team out on the radio, just had no class. The way he is on tires, there's no way in he!! his first set of slicks would have lasted.

 

The Australian GP was quite the show!

I really sat on the edge of my seat watching the last 10 laps and was pleased with the level of competition that I witnessed. Every one of those last laps was a nail-biter!

I thought for sure that Massa would succumb to the pressure and slide off course but kudos to him as he held off Alonso (whom I believe would have given poor ole Vettel a run for the money had he not had the miscue with Button at the first corner) no mean feat!

Additionally, Felipe had a great start... like he was shot out of a gun! Well done!

Speaking of Vettel, the kid has sour luck... for the second race a win is literally snatched away from him after a dominant performance. His time will come... he's overdue!

 

Quite right on all counts!


That was really uncalled for Lewis to berate the team over the radio...

I'm sure that Martin Whitmarsh will be having a few words with Lewis over that incident...

 

According to Alonso, he wasn't going to make a move on Massa in the last 10 laps or so, unless Kubica went out. As long as they were behind Kubica, he decided to protect Massa's podium from Hamilton. He said he was quite happy with 4th considering the way the day started.

Massa had a great start. Alonso got a tire on the paint of the grid, and had wheel spin, then of course the first turn whoopsie.

I feel really bad for poor Vettel.

 

Yeah, Kubica. He just kind of kept his head down and drove. And he didn't look all that out of place. The Renault looked good up there. Sure he was getting some pressure from the Ferraris, but it never amounted to anything.

It was impressive to see Alonso make as high as he did with that first corner schmozzle ( Hobbsism, booyah!!!!). It did help that a lot of other folks were falling off the road. But I would have thought that Alonso's tires wouldn't have held up the way they did, because he was pretty hard on them.

I think Schumi's lost his nerve. There was a point where I was sure he was going to dive in to pass someone, and I could tell he was thinking about it, but he hesistated and then the opportunity was over. I know the MS of old, would never have given up that opportunity. I dunno, maybe he's just rusty.

 

I still think Kubica is the secret weapon of F1. Put him in a competitive car consistently and he'll show he's the real deal.

 

I also thought it was a corker!

I also know there's no way they could have gone a full race distance on those tires if it hadn't been an overcast 70* day and a cool and damp track.

In Malaysia, if it doesn't rain - you'll see lots of tire changes, and even more if it does rain, like last year!

Kudo's to Kubby, he drove a good solid race for Renault.

As to MS, I think once they get back to Europe he'll be fine. He says this understeering car doesn't suit him I think the lack of passing on his part is down to being in a car that doesn't suit his style of driving - he's not confidant in it and doesn't want to slide off, so he's being conservative. Rosberg has outqualified him twice so far - just like Vettel does to Mark Webber. And good for him...

Speaking of Vettel is it just bad luck, or is his race pace and bad luck because he's harder on the equipment?

He's got the fire in his belly this year, that's for sure!

 

There's no doubt that Vettel's fast, but you bring up an interesting point. One that is substantiated by Adrian Newey's reputation for designing fast yet delicate cars.

Oh and, ahem.
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