Official F1/Motorsport thread

[TheForce]

1st get rid of the diffuser, everyone in F1 knows it's causing the problem of not being able to drive close behind another car, so why is it still on the cars this year ?? And
we need more demanding tracks with highspeed corner combinations where the men are separated from the boys, where if you take some risc you get enough speed out of the corner to overtake the guy infront...
And drivers that are not being afraid to use their tyres a bit more... did we see any driver that worn out his tyres too much before the end of the race ? ... nope... So this means nobody was really pushing it ?... Even Button said after the race his tyres were too good to make a pitstop already, so what was he doing then all race behind Schumacher ?! why not try to overtake the bastard or push the guy in front so he will use up his tyres as well ! I had the feeling they were all just taking care of their engines, fuel consumption and tyre wear a bit too much !

That all said, this was only the first race with the new rules, I expect some better races on the "classic" tracks and I hope the drivers will also push their tyres more so see how far they can take it...

I have to agree with Alex as well about the steel disc brakes,with steel brakes you increase the chance of outbreaking other cars.
And yes, what are we doing in countries like this (Bahrein), I've seen many shot of this track and I couldn't find any grandstands apart from the main straigth, the people overthere don't even care about F1 ! That ****ing Ecclestone is asking the trackowners so much money they go backrupt if they host a F1 race ?!! Ecclestone must get his **** together and bring F1 back to the true fans, bring back Nurburgring, Imola, A1, Hockenheim, Valencia etc on a yearly base , it will be sold out everyyear with great atmosphere...

pfff rant over...

I still love F1, but not like I did in the nineties...

[sharky_ob]

The diffusers are going (double ones anyway), not until next year though. This should hopefully make a big difference to cars being able to follow each other.

I never really understood banning refueling - it seems to me it would always make the racing less exciting. It takes away the light car on old tyres vs heavy car on new tyres situations. We all saw how the teams just reacted to each other with the stops - there's no longer the situation that cars are forced to stop because of low fuel.

I hope I'm wrong, but the season we've all been looking forward to so much could be ruined by this tinkering with the rules. Sakhir has never produced such a boring grand prix before.

[Darwock]

What I don't get is that if the cars are so poor at withstanding actual competitive racing, then why aren't the engineers designing cars that are capable of the job? Maybe they've forgotten that the race track isn't actually the same environment as a wind tunnel?

Instead of going for pure speed they should be thinking about how to make a car that can pass other cars - the team that cracks it will win! lol

[vanpeebles]

What I don't get is that if the cars are so poor at withstanding actual competitive racing, then why aren't the engineers designing cars that are capable of the job? Maybe they've forgotten that the race track isn't actually the same environment as a wind tunnel?

Instead of going for pure speed they should be thinking about how to make a car that can pass other cars - the team that cracks it will win! lol

I belive that's due to the rules. The design of the cars is decided by a very strict template on how they are built, sizes between areas etc etc

[Richard.John]

Over on JA's blog there is an article about possible solutions. Suggests that the cars are too reliable now and that semi auto boxes = lack of mistakes so a fluffed gear change is a thing of the past.

[CMcK]

I think the rules are too restricting in F1 now. Now that budget caps are in place teams should be allowed to do whatever they want. Have a engine size and rev limit. Bring back other tyre manufacturers and just let the teams imaginations go wild.
We could see all sorts of stuff then. Go for massive power with forced induction or have clever active aero. Imagine a car with air braking to assist the normal discs. KERS was a good idea but once everyone has a similar system it pointless.
What's the point in F1 supposedly being at the pinnacle of motorsport technology when the designers are all hemmed in by the rules.
May as well be watching A1GP.

[Flabio]

Now that budget caps are in place

They're not. Part of the agreement that stopped the breakaway last season was that they wouldn't introduce caps yet.

[CMcK]

I thought they were coming in next season? My bad.

[Bort]

A tunnel at Spa has collapsed causing minor cracks in the track.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82285

Video - http://video.rtlinfo.be/page/142.aspx?videoid=140670

[Malc]

Early wake up this weekend (All times UK):

Australian Grand Prix

Albert Park, Melbourne, 26-28 March 2010



Fri 26 Mar: Practice 1 0130-0300; Practice 2 0530-0700
Sat 27 Mar: Practice 3 0300-0400; Qualifying 0600
Sun 28 Mar: Race 0700

[Paulos G]

And remember the clocks go forward this weekend!

[Malc]

And remember the clocks go forward this weekend!

It's going to be a tiring weekend.

[ChrisF]

There's now a free F1 app which uses the same feeds and gives you pretty much the same data as the £20 app... just minus the nice graphics. Just the stats ma'am.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/formula1-com-2010-application/id359469064?mt=8

[Paulos G]

For any early risers (like me) practice 2 can be found via the red button or the BBC sport site.

[Flabio]

Reading on the BBC this morning that Virgin have discovered their cars fuel tank is too small to do a full race distance.

Oops.