That paint scheme is so boring to me now. I always loved the blue/white combo (it looked even better in person than on tv) but certainly understand the reasons it changed. The big numbers are good, but I usually just go by the camera colour to tell which driver is which...either that or the helmet.

Personally I love the drivers name on the side of the car...especially Kimi (my name is Kim) because my friends always joke "hey look, someone else is driving your car".

 

Certainly in the last five to ten years, the "Launch" has become a MEGA-MEDIA event. Royal Albert Hall is commonly used by the major chassis manufacturers for launch spectales. Models, major league catering, Circ-su-Soliel type acrobatics, it's unfortunately become a real media circus. Not at all like the good old days when the local moto-journos were invited out to Silverstone on a cold and wet December day to see the new car go through its paces. A few years ago, there was a scheduling conflict between two teams (both launched at the same time at different venues). Oh the shame and horror.

 

2006 Driver Line-Ups (note that Aguri Suzuki's team was not granted admission into the F1 circus, probably due to them not having $48,000,000 bond posted. They can still be admitted if the other teams unanimously grant them permission).

2006 Formula One World Championship entry list

Mild Seven Renault
1 Fernando Alonso
2 Giancarlo Fisichella

(sponsor TBA) McLaren Mercedes
3 Kimi Raikkonen
4 Juan Pablo Montoya

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
5 Michael Schumacher
6 Felipe Massa

Panasonic Toyota Racing
7 Ralf Schumacher
8 Jarno Trulli

WilliamsF1 Team
9 Mark Webber
10 Nico Rosberg

Lucky Strike Honda Racing F1 Team
11 Rubens Barrichello
12 Jenson Button

Red Bull Racing
14 David Coulthard
15 Christian Klien

BMW Sauber F1 Team
16 Nick Heidfeld
17 TBA (Jacques Villeneuve)

MF1 Racing (Midland, formerly Jordan)
18 Tiago Monteiro
19 Christijan Albers

Scuderia Toro Rosso (formerly Minardi)
20 TBA
21 TBA
(Liuzzi and Speed, but not necessarily in that order)

 

Sadly F-1 is now down to 9 entries (one team having both an A and B squad- or as the more cynical among us might say a B and C squad). New blood ain't a commin' not with the huge amount of bling that must be ante-ed up beforehand. Spa promoter is bankrupt, Monza in danger of court ordered exclusion, Indy sabotaged in '05 and Bernie is more interested in securing his billions through new "ownership" games; all while MadMax presides over a crumbling empire. Looks a lot like Nero fiddling as Rome burns. "Course Nero was the pyromaniac in the first place who caused all the chaos and decay.

 

That colour scheme reminds me of that French team either Prost or Ligier

 

Fisi better watch his back because Heikki is standing by.

I can't wait to see Nick humiliate Jacques

 

THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN!

86 days, 12 hours, 47 minutes, 50 seconds to Bahrain!

 

So far so good

SCHU RETURNS IN STYLE
Last Updated: Friday, 16, December, 2005, 11:33 Michael Schumacher put an early spin behind him to set the testing pace on his return to the Ferrari cockpit at Jerez on Thursday.
Significantly, the German was faster aboard a V8-powered F2004 than team-mate Felipe Massa in a F2005 equipped with a restricted V10 engine.
So far in winter testing, regulated V10s have had a clear advantage over V8 units.
But Schumacher broke the mould and reported that the new power unit was more enjoyable than he had expected.
Massa wound up second fastest, 0.1s adrift of Schumacher and just ahead of Renault duo Franck Montagny and Heikki Kovalainen, who continued to run detuned V10s and evaluated tyre compounds and constructions with Michelin.
“We had another productive day, once again completing a high mileage with both drivers,” said Renault’s chief test engineer Christian Silk.
“The car continues to look competitive in simulated V8 configuration, and we made good progress with our tyre development.”
Anthony Davidson was fifth quickest in Honda’s concept car, but his deficit of the best part of a second to Schumacher’s Ferrari – in similar V8 trim – suggests the Japanese manufacturer still has work to do.
Honda young driver Adam Carroll accumulated more valuable mileage and trailed Davidson by just 0.3s.
McLaren’s day was interrupted by an engine blow-up on Juan Pablo Montoya’s car shortly before lunch, the resultant oil seepage adversely affecting subsequent lap times.
The Colombian returned to action later in the day and posted the seventh best time behind Ricardo Zonta’s Toyota TF106.
Williams was in the wars with an engine failure afflicting Nico Rosberg and unspecified mechanical problems consigning Mark Webber to the bottom of the charts.
Meanwhile Nick Heidfeld’s day was curtailed by a defective exhaust pipe that burned the back of his BMW-Sauber and could not be fixed in the afternoon.


Thursday testing times from Jerez
[FONT='Courier New']1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m18.958s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']2. MASSA Ferrari 1m19.059s*[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']3. MONTAGNY Renault 1m19.066s*[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']4. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m19.100s*[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']5. DAVIDSON Honda 1m19.877s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']6. ZONTA Toyota 1m20.035s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']7. MONTOYA McLaren 1m20.168s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']8. CARROLL Honda 1m20.170s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']9. PANIS Toyota 1m20.342s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']10. DE LA ROSA McLaren 1m20.492s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']11. ROSBERG Williams 1m20.597s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']12. HEIDFELD BMW-Sauber 1m20.710s[/FONT]
[FONT='Courier New']13. WEBBER Williams 1m21.453s

* restricted V10 engine[/FONT]

 

That was a bit of a surprise. So, obviously, either Juan Pablo or Kimi has to go. It's been a long-standing rumor that Kimi has a Ferrari contract for '07, though that's a bit of a confused situation since who knows what Schumacher will want to do and Ferrari clearly has an interest in Valentino Rossi, too.

Mark

 

where did this come from?

 

All over the F1 news sites this a.m...try either f1racing.net or f1-live.com.

I'd guess the Kimi to Ferrari rumours are true...only time will tell.

 

Wow, that is interesting news

How could Renault let him go? Probably not enough sponsorship dollars to pay him Jenson or Schuey dollars.

Of course it was plain to see that McLaren was kicking Renault butt in terms of speed this season.

The next two seasons should be great with hopefully Red Bull, Toyota, Honda and Sauber in the mix for race victories.

 

i thought this year was gonna be an amazing shake up... but with the team switching and the single tire rule... what else could happen? i am FLOOOOOORED!

 

with ghosn's recent comments about f1 perhaps not helping to sell cars and therefore being expendable, then alonso getting out while the getting's good isn't so surprising.

 

I think I'd keep Kimi over Alonso if I were Ron Dennis. Kimi seems to be a better driver, and not much older than Fernando. However, if I were a sponsor, I would prefer the gregarious Spaniard to the mumble-mouthed Finn, and I assume that is a significant factor for any F1 team.

 

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.a...34880&PO=34880

 

so sad.

 

F1 without Spa is like CART without the Indianapolis 500....


A Joke!

Race dates going to tobacco friendly, Muslem and Comunist countries.

What's next the Grand Prix of Cuba?..... Grand Prix of Iraq or Iran?

 

I don't care where they race as long as there is a decent track there. If the new government of Iraq wants to build an exact duplicate of Spa (minus the forest, I suppose), and can afford to put a race on every year, that would work for me!

At this point, keeping Spa on the calendar is an emotional, nostalgic notion. It is an awesome track, that is certain, but the same layout that thrills the drivers and those of us watching at home must make it incredibly difficult for the event to break even.

The newer tracks all have one thing in common (other than being boring, uninspired, sanitized, etc.): they have huge spectator stadiums on the start-finish straight and a few turns on either side. The can hold probably 100,000 paying customers. Spa is 4+ miles long, and winds through a forest - hardly conducive to large spectator counts. Add to that the European tobacco-ad ban and F1's continuing reliance on tobacco money, and Spa just doesn't make sense.

That being said, the FIA should pull it's collective head out of its collective backside and subsidize it!

 

Funny you should mention the Grand Prix of Cuba. There were non-championship GPs there during the end of the Batista dictatorship. In '57 and '58 I believe. The '57 race was won by Juan Manuel Fangio in his Maserati 300S, but he didn't repeat the following year because he was kidnapped by a certain young revolutionary named Fidel Castro. The race was cancelled, Fangio released and a few months later, Batista was history and Castro took over. Of course, he never did get a real championship GP though, must have somethng to do with the unauthorized detention of world champions.

If F1 lets Spa fall by the wayside (and Indy too as of '07) in favor of a "designed" circuit in some turdworld venue, we the collective fanatics of F1 should do the same to Bernie and his circus.

Vote with your Remote!

No Spa, No fans.

 

Disagree. 2005 was an F1 joke and the racing was horrible. It will always be remembered as the year that meant nothing.

 

I 100% disagree with you, did you watch the season at all? So many races were up in the air until the very end, new teams like Red Bull and Toyota did reasonably well, and there was an epic battle between two up and coming greats, Kimi and Alonso. For me, 2005 was one of the best years since 1993-1995.

 

I liked last year a whole lot better than the red machine runaway the year before.

John

 

I've watched every race for 20 years. I was at Spa and will be at at least 3 races this year. Qualifying and single tires destroyed 2005. F1 isn't about conservation, as in tires. It was a joke, hence massive rules changes for 06. Alonso will be beat out by many in 2006.

 

Me, too. Except for the part where Ferrari wasn't competitive in 2005! Much of the drama came about due to arbitrary rules changes, but at least there was drama.