I will surely miss a bit of the "ultra-violence" . . . that lovely, demonic V-10 shrill . . . but I think this is going to be a very exciting season.

It will be very interesting to see if the new V-8 power does indeed level the playing field (will Cosworth be equal to the task?) . . . and with the return to tire changes and a couple of more teams now running Bridgestone . . .

I also have to believe that they will find a way to save Spa, and as there is F1, there will be Monza . . . at least I hope so because I'm going!

 

for some reason, my "preview" posted to the site . . .

 

I do agree that F1 should have tire changes. I don't agree that Alonso will be beaten by many this year, I would bet that Renault will be even stronger this year.

 

But the question is being that 2006 is the last year with Alonso at Renault... Will they support him the entire season with first driver equiptment and support? Or will they just blow him off because this is his last year with the team?

 

Certainly . . . they will not blow him off. Not to mention that sort of approach would never sit well with Briatore, but Renault's continued corporate commitment to F1 appears to now hinge upon remaining competitive and winning.

 

Alonso won't get the support of the team this year as he headed out the door in '07. Briatore is Alonso's manager and Alonso didn't even let on he was in negotiations with McLaren. Briatore is already backing Fisi and trying to get him motivated to topple Alonso. Alonso will not repeat as F1 champ. He'll go down in history as the champ of the silly season, the season between eras.

Regardless, it'll be the best year in many. No more excuses about stupid rules, rules designed specifically to end the Ferrari era. It's now a fair fight for all the right reasons.

 

I have always thought there was a conflict of interest with Briatore running the team and managing drivers

How can they not support Alonso? Don't they want championships? The better driver should win the intrateam battle and I think Alonso has proven he is the better of the two.

Maybe the racing would be more boring, but I want to know at least at some point during the race weekend who has the fastest car. I don't think we always knew this fact or at least it was not very obvious during the last few seasons.

Of course I am Ferrari biased, but if they lose because they are slower than so be it. I am not convinced they were that bad last season, nor were they that great the season before. It just appeared that way, but hey that's racing I guess.

 

Briatore is out there to win.

I don't think Alonso handled the situation very well, but such is F1 and at the end of the day I don't see Renault sulking over spilt milk.

I like Fisico and would love to see him win a couple of more races . . . but I do think Alonso is quicker.

 

let us not forget that 06 probably will be the last year for Renault.

 

If Valentino joins the Ferrari team he's gonna be tough...this guy wins at eveything he tries at....

#46

 

What else has Rossi done besides motorbikes?

 

i disagree. i think Alonso did the only thing he could do. with Renault's future unsure he did the smart thing by striking while the iron was hot. if he would have waited until mid-season to start negotiating, who knows if what he could have gotten.

if anyone didn't handle the situation well it was Ron Dennis who should have talked to Flava Flav(io) before he went to the press... i'm a Mclaren fan BTW.

 

Of course, I don't know that any of us know what really transpired . . . but the secretive nature of Alonso's dealings with McLaren were all that I was addressing.

I don't fault Alonso for wanting to drive for McLaren . . . not at all . . . such was my point that this is the nature of F1

I tend to think that Renault will remain in F1 provided they remain at the front.

 

Has been world champion in every class he's ever competed in....

On four wheels he's done some rally's. (but lately he's been testing the Ferrari recently doing laps in a 2004 model just 1 second behind Schumacher's time)

Did you read about his recent test:

"

[FONT=verdana][SIZE=-1]A day after spinning out on his first public lap in a Ferrari Formula One seat, Valentino Rossi was an impressive eighth fastest among the 15 Formula One drivers testing in Valencia, Spain, according to the Italian news agency Ansa.
Rossi, who on Tuesday spun out in turn ten and had to be towed out of the gravel trap, was just over a second slower than Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher. Schumacher lapped the 2.5-mile circuit in 1:11.814, with Rossi at 1:12.851. World Champion Fernando Alonso topped the charts with a lap of 1:11.229, followed by Honda’s Jenson Button, then Schumacher. The time puts Rossi in front of a number of F1 regulars, including Red Bull’s David Coulthard, Williams-Cosworth’s Mark Webber, and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli.

Rossi completed 53 laps in the V10-powered Ferrari F2004, with Schumacher driving the 2006 V8-powered 248 F1. Rossi’s car was a power-down version of last year’s F2005 V10, according to Ansa, which makes the time that much more impressive. The rest of drivers were using the V8’s that will be the standard in 2006.
This is the first public test for the seven-time world champion, who previously tested the Ferrari privately at Mugello and Fiorano, Ferrari’s test track.
Having won the last five premier class championships in a row, speculation is that Rossi will move to the challenge of Formula One while he’s still relatively young; the Italian turns 27 in two weeks.
His increased presence in the F1 world comes at a propitious time. Multi-time world champion Michael Schumacher doesn't have a contract with Ferrari beyond 2006. Ferrari signed Felipe Massa to replace Rubens Barrichello, but Massa only has a one year contract. Rossi is also a one-year contract, with Yamaha in MotoGP. Briton John Surtees is the only person to win world championships in both motorcycle and car racing. Surtees won four motorcycle world championships before moving to four wheels in 1960. He won the F-1 title in 1964, driving a Ferrari."
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This year's formula should be more interesting than most. Rules changes aside (where most of the excitement will be generated) It'll be a year where the young lions exert their dominance over the old guard. Shumi is 37 years old, practically a grandpa in F1 years. With the exception of Fangio, F1 has really always been dominated by the young and reckless. Kimi v. Alonso should prove entertaining, and McLaren if it can be made reliable will probably walk away with the title. Ferrari will see the futility of continuing to be Michael's team, for as the star pushes 40 his enthusiasm will undoubtably wane.

My ques. Will Indy survive past 2006 as a place on the F1 Calendar, if not will there ever be another USGP?

 

This is a story from cyclenews.com today I read...Good stuff!
Ferrari's Michael Schumacher has told the French newspaper L'Equipe that MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi can make the jump to Formula One.
"Absolutely, it's completely possible for him," the seven-time World Champion told the paper yesterday.
"He has enough talent to get there. I would even say that it is easier to go from bikes to cars than the other way round," added the German, who tested a Ducati MotoGP bike last year after Rossi had driven his Ferrari. "And when, like him, you have this special feeling on two wheels, you can use it perfectly on four wheels." Rossi completed his third and final day in the multi-team Formula One test at Valencia in Spain yesterday, ending up 11th fastest. Rossi was a little over a second slower than Schumacher, but was the talk of the test.
"Rossi astonishes," declared Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport in a front page headline, with drivers applauding the Italian.
"It's nice that he's driving with us," said BMW's Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 champion. "Looking at how he's going, however, he should give up motorbikes and join us. Maybe I should move to bikes. I think it's perfectly normal that he should be driving well, even if the last few tenths are always the hardest to gain."
Schumacher enjoyed having Rossi at the test because the focus shifted elsewhere, he said. "It's better, because it's easier for me to work."
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Sad news, once again no Eau-Rouge for our viewing pleasure:

"a statement issued by the FIA this afternoon explained, "The Belgian National Sporting Authority, the RACB, has written to notify the FIA of the withdrawal of the 2006 Belgian Grand Prix from the FIA Formula One World Championship. The withdrawal has been made in order to allow the completion of extensive improvement work to facilities at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.""


Spa - gone
Monza - in the courts
Hockenheim - ???

Isn't it time to for Max Mosely to resign.. oh-wait.. he did.. but he's still there.. how'd that happen again

 

That's sad that Spa is going to be out this year. Somehow Spa is always on the outs every year, but seems to make it onto the calendar. I guess not this year!

 

At least it's off for improvements, so hopefully it will be back in 2007. A year without Spa will be very strange indeed.

Regardless, Axe Max!!

 

I thought this issue had been resolved . . . at least showed promise of resolution. I can't believe that after all of these years there would be no Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

 

Dear Mad Max,

Why is it that F1 has gone to the sh*tter these past few years? Last year's FIAsco at Indy, and now the loss of Spa-Francochamps, Monza on the out and out, Silverstone always being threatened. What the eff is wrong with you guys? Do we really need to see F1 self destruct before our eyes as you and the other greedy weasels make mega-millions off of t*rd world countries poor investments into "image changing" propaganda designed to "re-package the dictatorship" via world class racing facilities, whilst the tracks with actual histories in nations that have supported motorsport since its inception are dropped from the F1 world tour? I for one am extremely irked by your behavior. Perhaps it would be best for there to be a change in management at FIA and F1. I wholeheartedly support a break-away series provided that great circuits are again made part of the spectacle. You should be ashamed of the way your actions have brought F1 into disrepute.

Sincerely,

a dissolutioned F1 fan

 

Should this not have been addressed to Bernie?

 

Brainless Bernie doesn't care about F1. He only cares about how much money it can give him. To hell with the traditional tracks like Monza, Spa, and Silverstone. They are all anti-tobacco. When he can go to Communist/Terrorist supporting nations and reap the Big Tobacco dollars.

As far as I am concerned the FIA-***-CO at the USGP is proof that Bernie is a Terrorist and is on hell bent Jihad aganst Formula One's traditional tracks and fans

 

Amen, Infidel!

 

Respectfully speaking, your comments show you don't have a firm grasp as to the business of F1. It costs tens of millions of USDs to put on a F1 event. Monaco costs $35 Million, for example. It's a major investment for the organizers, even though there's profit to be made. I've been to Spa for F1 races and the facilities are crap. F1 has needs and Spa doesn't measure up. Missing the calendar this year is incentive to do what they need to get their act together.

If you guys really knew F1 you wouldn't be down on Bernie or the FIA. They have a mountain of a job to perform and most couldn't comprehend it if they tried. All I read here is surface politics.

Off the soap box now. F1's future is bright. No worries.