Official F1/Motorsport thread

[VR46]

Can?t believe Rossi?s engine gave up with 2 laps left last night, he?s now 61 points behind with 6 races left, it is going to make it extra interesting over the coming weeks.

Interesting story in the Metro today about the possibility of Michael Schumacher going to BMW for 2008 (guessing he?s going to stay with Ferrari next year), makes sense I suppose, both being German etc, then staying on there after he retires from racing. The article in full is in the latest F1 Racing magazine out tomorrow. Talk of $100million salary for one year, plus bonuses etc etc,

[Darwock]

I don't buy it, why would Schumacher want to move, and why would they want him to move? The only way I see it happening is if Ferrari do a complete overhaul and say goodbye to Todt, Brawn etc all at the same time. Schuey always said he'd end his days at Ferrari and Montezemolo always said they hoped he would (if not as a driver then in some other role)

[VR46]

It does seem to have come out of the blue, apparently conversations between Willi Webber and BMW have been leaked, article says Sch could bring whatever staff he wished with him (assuming they were willing to move), BMW F1 & Sch are both based in Switzerland, tbh think Sch is a (very expensive) wheel in a cog to get the best F1 staff in the world to join BMW.

[Alastair]

That sounds so far fetched you couldn't make it up!!! Will be amazed if that does happen TBH but stranger things do happen in business and that's all F1 is to the companies at the end of the day.

[Alastair]

Williams are ditching Cosworth and switching to Toyota engines next year in a three year deal.

[Streets Of Rage]

Good move on Frank's part, as good as Cosworth are they don't have the budget to compete with the likes of Toyota and Honda, Toyota have been making reliable engines with good power ever since they arrived in F1, look at Monteiro's finishing record in the Jordan last year!

[Darwock]

I'm quite confused, as some will know the FIA recently introduced a ban on the 'mass damper' technology used by Renault & Ferrari - but the ban has been overturned by the race stewards for the German GP.

How can stewards overrule the FIA???

[VR46]

it is strange, seems Stewards have the right of say at their own track ? risky by the (upto 6) teams to use it and then prehaps find themselves disqualified if there is a protest etc after the race ...

Almost as confusing is how Trulli has got a new three deal in one of the fringe top teams, imo he's done f*ck all for 18 months, his best placed finish is a 9th in almost 30 races, this surely confirms my thoughts.

[Richard.John]

Trulli is alright. He will never be WDC but he's a good qualifier just too slow in the races.

[VR46]

Better the devil you know I suppose, 3 years is a hell of a long time though, surely with the hundreds of millions Toyota have spent on F1 they would want something to show for their investment, not a guy who "disappears" at some point in virtually every race.

/whinge over.

[VR46]

After yesterday's qualifying, today's grid should make for some entertaining viewing, can see Kimi pitting early, then Schumacher & Massa pulling away from the Honda's & Renault's, bound to be one or two surprise's though. Just hope for Honda's sake they have good speed and reliability.

Unless Alonso has a great start he's only going to be picking up a couple of points imo, normally a two stop race this one isn't it ?

[Wools]

Brillant to see Button qualify so high up!

Does anyone miss the old Hockenheim course? It used to go on for miles into those woods but after that terrible accident they've changed it into a pretty boring course.

This along with Spa will be sorely missed by me.

[Richard.John]

The new Hockenheim is just another one of these designed for TV circuits. The long classics of the past were great but a nightmare for TV producers who longed for compact tracks with multiple camera points.

Can you imagine a modern F1 car at the 'Ring. Its suspension wouldn't last 30 secs!

[Wools]

Heard about BAR trying to set the fastest ever F1 car speed? Well, they've been successful. It was all about a race legal setup of the car.

Really surprises me that a road car (Veyron) can go faster straight out of the box than an F1 car as the BAR 'only' hit 220mph. They are still trying for the 'magic' 400kph (250mph) though.

Says something about the power the Bugatti puts out

Yeah but the Veyron was designed to be the fastest car ever. Reminds me of what Gordon Murray (The creator of my favourite car ever, the Mclaren F1) said about the Veyron.

"The most pointless exercise on the planet has got to be this four-wheel-drive 1000 horsepower Bugatti. I think it?s incredibly childish this thing people have about just one element ? top speed or standing kilometre or 0-60. It?s about as narrow minded as you can get as a car designer to pick on one element. It?s like saying we?re going to beat the original Mini because we?re going to make a car 10 mph faster on its top speed ? but it's two foot longer and 200 kilos heavier. That?s not car designing ? that just reeks of a company who are paranoid."

It's a incrediable project the Veyron but I would bet my money that on a lap of Silverstone a modern F1 car could lap faster than the Veyron. Lighter and more agile.

Also it's rumoured that an F1 car costs around 1 million to build. A veyron costs over 5 million. You can't really compare the two in my opinion no matter how good both machines are!

[Wools]

The new Hockenheim is just another one of these designed for TV circuits. The long classics of the past were great but a nightmare for TV producers who longed for compact tracks with multiple camera points.

Can you imagine a modern F1 car at the 'Ring. It's suspension wouldn't last 30 secs!

Well the short course was added and modified after the accident so I doubt it was because of TV producers or whatever. I'm sure the owners could of re-designed that chicane to include a greater run off section and add tarmac instead of gravel. Although accidents in F1 are terrible things they will happen as long as their is a veichle involved.

As for the ring I dont think any kind of low slung car such a modern F1 could go on that bad boy. I would love to see something such as the FIA GT championship go round that though, if only it werent a close circuit!