Official F1/Motorsport thread

[smallvillex]

Mclaren are going all the way this season. They have the best driver in F1, Kimmi! Plus Alonso's addition to the happy family makes them a force to be reckoned with and unbeatable in my opinion! Come on Mclaren!!! 2006 bring it on.....

[Alastair]

But Alonso isn't joining till '07 and I think the uncertainty of who will stay to partner him will rock the boat. Wouldn't be surprised if it's a hard, testing year for McL actually. Would love to see them clean up though.

[Richard.John]

The best is still the Schu, but of the new generation, Fernando gets my vote. Consistently brilliant sums up his '05 season. He blew the rest away in regards to his ability to keep on knocking in those wins and podiums. He still finished ahead of Kimi and Renault won the WCC, which says it all really.

[VR46]

This years Dakar claims it's first fatality

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4595436.stm

even worse when it's a child spectator

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/4610500.stm

Was really hoping for a Sainz win but those 30mins lost last week have really ruled out any hopes he had.

[smallvillex]

Mclaren will clean up!!! I can't wait!!

[Richard.John]

BMW Sauber launch their new challenger. Let's hope Williams spank them.

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=26879


Only fifty days until Bahrain.

[smallvillex]

Can't wait

[VR46]

Biaggi tests for Midland, this guy is obsessed with trying to beat Rossi (and keeps on failing)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4623900.stm

[Kieran76]

I can see a smaller team like MIdland going for this, think of the publicity, and if he's no good sack him. It's a win win situation for them.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Oh don't forget there will be

Monte Carlo Rally this weekend

Looking forward to it.

[VR46]

It started this morning Loeb was in the lead last time I looked, plus a couple of stages were cancelled due to crowds.

[Alastair]

Does anyone do a Fantasy F1? I do an invite only one with a small company that put up the prize every year.

If anyone is bored (like me) and can spare 10 mins (like me) I would appreciate your advice about picking my team.
2 years ago I was 2nd overall (won ?200 ) but last year I was shockingly low down (60th ) due to bad decision making choosing Ferrari and not realising Renault were going to be so damn consistent.

There is ?100m to spend and here are the rules:

1) Select 3 cars from the 'CARS' list below (2 can be the same).
2) Select 3 drivers from the 'DRIVERS' list below (must be different).
3) Check that you have not spent more than ?100M.

As it says 2 cars can be the same but all 3 drivers must be different, here's the lists to choose from:

Cars:
McLaren...................?37M
Renault....................?34M
Ferrari.....................?30M
Honda.....................?28M
Toyota....................?23M
BMW Sauber.............?20M
Williams....................?15M
Red Bull Racing..........?9M
Scuderia Toro Rosso...?5M
Midlands F1...............?3M
Super Aguri F1...........?3M

Drivers
Fernando Alonso .........?37M
Kimi Raikkonen .............?32M
Michael Schumacher .....?28M
Juan-Pablo Montoya ....?25M
Giancarlo Fisichella ......?22M
Jenson Button ............?19M
Rubins Barrichello ........?15M
Felipe Massa ..............?12M
Jarno Trulli .................?11M
Ralf Schumacher .........?9M
Nick Heidfeld ..............?8M
Jacques Villeneuve ......?8M
Mark Webber ..............?7M
Nico Rosberg ..............?6M
David Coulthard ...........?6M
Christian Klien ............?5M
Vitantonio Liuzzi ..........?4M
Scott Speed ...............?4M
Christijan Albers .........?3M
Tiago Montero ...........?2M
Takuma Sato (TBC) ....?1M
To Be Announced .......?1M

Obviously if I choose to go with someone here's suggestion and win anything I'll sling you a thank you (may be cash, may not) and I thought it would be fun to monitor the progress through the season. It's all done on-line so I can share pages with people that suggest teams!

Here is a spreadsheet that will do all the maths for you if you fill it in like the example in the first column.

Have fun, and share stories of your own fantasy F1/other motor-sport endeavors!

[mid]

The choices of RBR and Coulthard strike me as bargains, so I wouldn't change those, for a start. I'm more than a little concerned about how late Renault are leaving their V8 testing, however, so you might want to save some money there.

[Alastair]

I literally just randomly put in choices in the example so it made 100 but I see your point. I get the feeling Klien may well give DC a run for his money this year though so may even save another million there.

Do you not think Renault can defend this year then? Interesting.

[Richard.John]

On current testing form its appears to be between Renault, Ferrari and Honda. Will Macca have another shocker of a season pushing both their drivers out of the team? Of course testing could mean diddly, and they could turn up at the first race and dominate but I doubt it. I reckon it will be between Schu and Fernando this year.