2005 Formula 1 season thread

[habsfan]

Well the 2005 season is but 2 weeks away. I think this will be an exciting season, with all the rule changes leveling out the field somewhat. So what are your predictions? What would you like to see most this season? Post it up here.

As far as Ferrari goes, we can't really bet against them being the force of F1 again, but i think they'll start to feel the heat from honda especially. I believe Toyota will get their desired first podium, but it'll be after the midway point in the season. And, of course, go JV!

[Dave P]

LETS GO SAUBER, LETS GO JV, Turn down the suck

http://www.sauber.ch/images/team/fahrer01_03_gr.jpg

Aside from sauber, im cheering for renault. Fisichella and Alonso have being posting really strong numbers in pre season practice

Red Bull Should have a solid team with klien and Coulthard.


Should Be An Awsome year for F1

[civic_stylez]

I have been waiting for this thread!!!! i actually heard a rumor that ferrari is considering pulling out of f1 due to massive costs and all the restrictions being put on them for the 2005 season. i highly doubt that will happen but i think this season will be the closest its been in years..honda, renault, merc and bmw are all promising to compete with ferrari. even minardi received new sponsorship and a new engine this year with cosworth pulling out of f1. they say theyll be even with jordan this year. i cant wait for austrailia! its always been a great season opener track! :drama:

[badd]

i think the renaults will have a great year, judging by there pregresion. SAchumacher will need some good competition or he will run away with it again. In my opinion if he wants to be knwo as a great driver hse should move to a mediocher team and win teh championship, or atleast win races like he did with benetton years ago.

over all i think this will eb a better year due to the new guidlines. i hope that there are lots of great races! watch renaults they will do good.

[rage2]

Originally posted by civic_stylez
I have been waiting for this thread!!!! i actually heard a rumor that ferrari is considering pulling out of f1 due to massive costs and all the restrictions being put on them for the 2005 season.
Actually, all the big teams are threatening to pull out and start a new F1 league because they're not getting enough of the F1 franchise profits.

Ferrari signed the new concorde agreement, so they will be staying with the current series. Wonder what would happen if everyone else pulled out to the new series?

[Team_Mclaren]

Originally posted by rage2

Actually, all the big teams are threatening to pull out and start a new F1 league because they're not getting enough of the F1 franchise profits.

Ferrari signed the new concorde agreement, so they will be staying with the current series. Wonder what would happen if everyone else pulled out to the new series?

If it does happen then its all Ecclestone's fault, Such a greedy old man. Not to mention that he favours Ferrari like theres no tomorrow... Appearly under the new concorde agreement, only 50% profit will be spilt between teams, but under the founding GPWC it'll be around 70-80%, of course the teams are going to jump over. According to f1live:

"Ecclestone¡¦s deal currently offers the teams half of the revenues gained but interestingly also gives Ferrari a financial incentive over the other teams"

Also, the GPWC was proposed/started by the manufacturers like BMW, Honda, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota and Renault.

[habsfan]

:werd: Eccelstone will be the end of F1. Personally, i'd love to see the GPWC take off and become a successful and competitive series

[Evro]

haah there is no more sauber, f1 is amazing tho and its only a week away, im cheerin for ferrari (and no its not cuz they win, ive always been a fan)
anyway what his about a new 2 race weekend engine rule?

[iceburns288]

Originally posted by Evro
im cheerin for ferrari (and no its not cuz they win, ive always been a fan)

Jeez, why did you take so long to sign up for the forum? You've been missed (only by me lol:D )

[Dave P]

Originally posted by Evro
haah there is no more sauber

ya, no more sauber?

http://www.sauber.ch/de/home/index.php




Come back when you know what your talking about Jr.


GO JV

GO MASSA



SAUBER ROCKS

[calgarys13]

go west, well kimi anyways hopefully JPM cam rack up enough points for a constructors title.... ill have my projector built for the start of the season...138 inches of F1 and 600 watts of 15,000+ rpms:drool: :drool:

[rage2]

Tomorrow night is practice! Friday night qualifying! Saturday night the race!

Oh man, I'm doing NOTHING this weekend!!!

[habsfan]

Originally posted by Evro
haah there is no more sauber

might want to consider researching something before posting noob. sauber is alive and well. in fact, rumor has it that BMW might buy sauber to replace williams as its factory team when the current contract expires in i believe 08 or 09

[Team_Mclaren]

CANT WAIT!!!!

WTF is with Ferrari not letting Minardi racing with their 2004 cars? Like give me a fucking break, only because Minardi doesnt have the money to develop a new 2005 car under the new regulations... they are now ban for racing? They have like 10% of the resource the big teams have. Im mighty pissed off by such selfish act!!!!! Fuck F1, GO GPWC!!!!

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/index.html?http://f1.racing-live.com/en/headlines/news/detail/050302143913.shtml

[hyperwhite]

ive got my sauber hat on but im working all weekend, no F1 for me :cry:

[Dave P]

Originally posted by habsfan


might want to consider researching something before posting noob. sauber is alive and well. in fact, rumor has it that BMW might buy sauber to replace williams as its factory team when the current contract expires in i believe 08 or 09

well isnt sauber switching from ferrari motors to bmw motors next year?








Poor Minardi. I love there boss though, he is all that keeps minardi in any spot light they have

[hyperwhite]

so will minardi even be at the race then??????

[badd]

Originally posted by Team_Mclaren
CANT WAIT!!!!

WTF is with Ferrari not letting Minardi racing with their 2004 cars? Like give me a fucking break, only because Minardi doesnt have the money to develop a new 2005 car under the new regulations... they are now ban for racing? They have like 10% of the resource the big teams have. Im mighty pissed off by such selfish act!!!!! Fuck F1, GO GPWC!!!!

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/index.html?http://f1.racing-live.com/en/headlines/news/detail/050302143913.shtml

seriously i love ferrari but this shit pisses me off.

i hope schumachers car blows up and takes out barachello.


what a bunch of whiney fucks.

i guess it will fall to jaques for me this season. to bad tho, i thought that new ferrari looked kik ass!

[habsfan]

Originally posted by Dave P
well isnt sauber switching from ferrari motors to bmw motors next year?

that's been the speculation, but nothing is confirmed yet

[hyperwhite]

i read that a deal has already been made for the engines and buying sauber was up in the air

[Dave P]

Villeneuve: F1 devoid of heroes


TSN.ca Staff



2/28/2005

Jacques Villeneuve says rule changes and Ferrari's dominance are not to blame for making Formula One boring. Instead, the former world champion blames the corporations involved in the sport for killing personalities.



"You want to know why formula one is so boring now?" Villeneuve rhetorically tells the Guardian newspaper. "It's obvious. There're no heroes in racing these days.



"All these corporations don't want their drivers to ruin their image so you can't say what you think. You're basically not allowed to have a personality. How can you have any heroes if you don't allow personalities?"



Villeneuve returns to Formula One full time this season following a one year sabbatical. He drove in the final three races of the year for Renault, failing to secure any points for the French-based team.





Villeneuve, known for his brash comments in the past, says Kimi Raikkonen's recent strip club antics should not surprise people. He says the image of Raikkonen as Formula One's "ice man" is just another corporate fabrication.



"In the paddock Kimi tries to look one-dimensional," he says. "It's sad that you don't see drivers being real people. Kimi's image is so obviously fabricated because he's not the Ice Man. It goes back to the corporations. You end up fabricating this image because that's what they want."



Villeneuve points to McLaren's public rebuke of Raikkonen's drunken antics in an attempt to protect their corporate sponsors. CEO Martin Whitmarsh said the team would take "whatever steps we need" to ensure that the Finn understood the seriousness of the situation.



As for the battle on the track, Villeneuve doesn't see any dramatic changes at the top, predicting another Ferrari championship in 2005.



"It'll be the same as last year," says the Canadian, down playing his chances with the Swiss-based Sauber team.



"I don't know how high I can aim with Sauber. I'm competitive but that doesn't stop me from being realistic."



As for the challengers, Villeneuve is quick to include former teammate and nemesis Jenson Button.



"People always said that there was bad blood between me and Jenson Button. But that was just part of (David) Richards' plan. It was never about me and Jenson - we actually got on.



"Jenson is very fast. There's no doubt about that. He's also a hard worker. Jenson's up there with the best but he's yet to win a race. That's the next step. But when he says him and Kimi and (Juan Pablo) Montoya are Schumacher's equal, I just look at Michael's seven world championships. He's far ahead."



Villeneuve, the only driver on the grid who can lay claim to having beaten Schumacher for the world title, says the current era of Formula One allows for more risk taking, something that wouldn't have been possible if he had raced during his father's time.



"It's better that I'm racing now," he says. "I try to judge the risks but we all make mistakes - so in the 1970s I would've definitely died... I wouldn't have survived."



Villeneuve went on to recall a recent testing accident, which he termed a "big one".



"I was going way over 200kph. I smashed into the wall real hard but it was at the correct angle so I didn't get hurt. At first, when I spun, I didn't think it was going to be too bad, but then I looked in my mirrors and could see the wall coming up fast. I thought, 'Oh darn, this is going to hurt.' But in five minutes I was back to normal.



"I've been racing quite a few years and you don't stay in this business without crashing."





Ahh the old JV is coming back

[hyperwhite]

lets just hope "he's back" on the track too

[habsfan]

ah sweet, good to see JV has some passion back in him.

[Dave P]

To bad he will probally not do as good as we all hope


Good thing i got my sauber pit shirt and renault pit shirt.

Can throw the renault shirt over my sauber one if JV is letting me down haha

[habsfan]

i'm really not expecting that much from him. maybe a point scoring race here and there. we can all stil hope to hear the canadian anthem at an F1 race once more :D

[habsfan]

Red Bull Also Against Minardi's '04-Spec Cars

Minardi looks set to be excluded from this weekend’s Australian F1 season opener, after the Red Bull team joined Ferrari in its unwillingness to allow Paul Stoddart’s team to race its 2004-spec cars. According to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, Minardi should be excluded from the Melbourne event if its cars are deemed illegal on today’s technical scrutineering.

The move comes as a surprise since Stoddart claimed to have a waiver to enter his PS04Bs signed by all teams bar Ferrari. Problem is, such document was carved last September, when Red Bull didn’t even exist yet - Jaguar Racing did.

"I sympathize with his position but rules are rules," Horner told Reuters. "They are there for a reason and we all have to abide by them.

rest of the article here (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/15465/)

[Dave P]

Poor Minardi.

Im a bit confused, so to run a 2004 car, all the other teams have to sign saying its ok.

Well then why does ferrari get to run there 2004 car to start the season? couldnt Minardi sign off on that?

Yes i know the reason everyone signs ferraris is because nobody wants to face the F2005 cause it will proablly dominate again.

[Team_Mclaren]

Originally posted by Dave P
Poor Minardi.

Im a bit confused, so to run a 2004 car, all the other teams have to sign saying its ok.

Well then why does ferrari get to run there 2004 car to start the season? couldnt Minardi sign off on that?

Yes i know the reason everyone signs ferraris is because nobody wants to face the F2005 cause it will proablly dominate again.

negative, the reason Ferrari can run the F2004M is becuase the car is under all new regulations of the 2005 , its a revised 2004 car, but not to 2004 spec, what Minardi is trying to do is run a 2004 spec car. Totally different situation, in that case Minardi requires the signing of ALL 9 teams allowing him to do this. Hope that explain the situation a little more clearer. There's no way other teams will sign for Ferrari if Ferrari wants to run a 2004 spec car, the new cars are said to be much slower than last years. (we've yet to see).

I really feel for Minardi... the fans are behind them 100% but Ferrari and Redbull obviously dont care
:guns:

[Dave P]

Originally posted by Team_Mclaren


negative, the reason Ferrari can run the F2004M is becuase its under all new regulation of the 2005 rules, as in its a revised 2004 car, but not 2004 spec, what Minardi is trying to do is run a 2004 spec car. Totally different situation, in that case Minardi requires the signing of ALL 9 teams allowing him to do this. Hope that explain the situation a little more clearer. There's no way other teams will sign for Ferrari if Ferrari wants to run a 2004 spec car, the new cars are said to be much slower than last years. (we've yet to see).

I really feel for Minardi... the fans are behind them 100% but Ferrari and Redbull obviously dont care
:guns:


Ahhhh Thanks Boss


Ya, Minardi is like the ugly duckling. Everyone makes fun of the, but one day they might turn into something beautiful. hahah




Who else uses the live timing on f1.com haha.
on race weekends its on 24/7 at my place .



WOOO LETS GO F1

[habsfan]

i'll probably have to miss the first bit of the race tomorrow night, fucking workin til 10:30 or so. definately gonna try my hardest to get home in time to catch most of it

edit: just finished waching practice. surprisingly fast lap times considering all the rule changes. it was tough to tell who was really fast and who wasnt. mclaren seemed to be quickest, but last second bmw and renault got some quick laps in. qualifying should be interesting to say the least.

[fast95pony]

My company is flight planning Alex Shnaider's (Jordan part owner)aircraft this year. I talked the the pilot earlier . I guess it's a big party in Melbourne right now.
I spent part on the night applying for slots and parking in Nice for the Monaco GP in May .

I guess I'll have to cheer for Jodan as well as JV :D

[rage2]

Did you guys watch practice last night? McLaren Mercedes clocking some seriously fast times. Ferrari sandbagging? Or will we have a REAL race this season???

[Dave P]

Originally posted by rage2
Did you guys watch practice last night? McLaren Mercedes clocking some seriously fast times. Ferrari sandbagging? Or will we have a REAL race this season???


Very quick times from a lot of drivers i thought. Looks like the new tyre rules and aero rules are gonna play a huge part this year if the first practice day can forsee anything.


I would love to think that somebody turned up ferrari's suck knob and we are gonna have a awsome season ahead of us, but who are we kidding hahahah

[Team_Mclaren]

Mclaren!!!! :D:D!!! i almost shit myself when da la rosa got the fastest time!!!:burnout:

[habsfan]

^ and de la rosa also had second fastest time in the first practice session! must be out to prove himself :D

[Team_Mclaren]

holy shit!! JV just sput out on the warning lap!! lucky guy, didnt hit the wall!!!

[Team_Mclaren]

FUCK its raining cats and dogs now!!! Fisichella got the fastest time by 2sec, his taking pole for Q1

Massa is driving like a gandma hahahahah, sounded like he's gonna stall any time.

[BigDL]

Crazy stuff going on, hell of a lot o fun for me to watch ;)

[habsfan]

WOOT!!! JV fourth in first round qualifying, thank you inclement weather :rofl:

[cloud7]

JV's spin in his warm up lap probably gave him the warning not to go too fast... I think he was a bit conservative but nevertheless a good result with 4th place.

BAR Honda boys didn't do too good... haha... no sympathy from me since they dumped JV. :D

[civic_stylez]

i felt so bad for felippe massa! the guy comes out on dry tires and gets shit on! that downpour really made for a crazy roster. im glad that minardi got to race this weekend as well, i cant understand why they had the components to make their car legal but the didnt put them on....nonetheless, i hope this season is really close and i think the montoya and raikonnen will be killing each other soon enough as well!:drama:

[habsfan]

Originally posted by civic_stylez
*snip* i cant understand why they had the components to make their car legal but the didnt put them on....*snip*

i believe it was because they didnt actually have a chance to do much testing on the aerodynamic pieces, so they didnt know if it would even be safe to put them on. last thing you want is to jeopardize peoples lives just to race.

[habsfan]

well the race is over. overall i enjoyed the race, not alot of action, but well balanced lap times and different results are always good :D itll be interestin to see what JV says about his rather unimpressive drive, he finished in 13th.

1st. Giancarlo Fisichella
2nd. Rubens Barrichello
3rd. Fernando Alonso

[civic_stylez]

that is definitely a different start to the f1 season! fisichella taking the win! i dont care what anybody says, when the cars come into the pit for fuel, to see 10 guys standing around doing nothing is super gay....the 1 set of tires per race is a terrible idea. i know the tire companies have to make a better tire now but the pit stops were one of the most exciting things in the sport. and another dumb thing is that if a car is running way back and out of the points towards the end of the race, they can just retire and are elligible for a new engine for next race. when heidfeld hit mikey, there was no immediate damage to mikeys ride but the brought it in so they get a new engine for malaysia..thats kind of unfair... anyways go DC!:thumbsup:

[habsfan]

^ i totally agree with you about the retirement thing, and somewhat about pit stops. i used to love watching the flurry in the pits too. but the retirement thing is super gay, am i the only one that thinks michael should get some kind of penalty for trying to cheat the system like that?

[iceburns288]

Are you Michael Schumacher? Do you know that there wasn't a problem after the spin?:rolleyes:

[habsfan]

are you that defensive about ferrari that you couldnt see that his car was fine mechanically :rolleyes: all that happened to his car was some body work fell off. maybe some suspension damage, but if it was bad enough to retire, then why did he feel the need to drive all the way back to the pits?

[civic_stylez]

after the spin ferrari knew that there was no way mikey had any chance of getting ANY points whatsoever so they told him to shut it down and get a new engine for next race..why continue and have to follow the 2 race weekends per engine when you can quit and use a brand new one?:dunno:

[buh_buh]

cuz then anyone who knows they can't get points that race will just retire and get a new engine for the next race. They definately need some sort of penalty so people don't scam the system.

[boi-alien]

Originally posted by habsfan
are you that defensive about ferrari that you couldnt see that his car was fine mechanically :rolleyes: all that happened to his car was some body work fell off. maybe some suspension damage, but if it was bad enough to retire, then why did he feel the need to drive all the way back to the pits?

I dunno, maybe externally it looked like there's nothing wrong, but we will never know right? And bottom line, it's strategy, if I was ferrari and I noticed the schumi wasn't going to get any points anyways then why bother? I may as well give him a fresh engine for the next race. It's not really abusing the system, it's just using what you're given.

[Team_Mclaren]

well, pretty good race, Its a good start to the season i guess.

as for the engine rule I agree with you civic_stylez, its a problem that needs to be solve. I was surprise at the pace of honda, didn't seem too impressive, same with toyota with amazing times in the first 20 laps then just die off all the sudden... I guess there's lot of thinkning to do for all the teams.


http://f1.racing-live.com/en/headlines/news/detail/050306110051.shtml

BAR retired both cars on the 58th lap... to use a new engine for next race.! What a retired rule...

[rage2]

Did anyone notice that there was pretty much ZERO passing during the race? All passes were done in the pits. Was kinda boring...

[boi-alien]

Originally posted by rage2
Did anyone notice that there was pretty much ZERO passing during the race? All passes were done in the pits. Was kinda boring...
yea, i noticed that too... let's just hope that they were all driving conservatively cause it's the first race with the new rules. otherwise this is going to turn out to be a very very boring season

[Team_Mclaren]

:werd: becuase most of the passing happened in hte pits its kinda confusing to see some cars dropped 3/4 places in one lap (trulli, JV), while some jumped 3/4 places without some actual passing on the track (alonso, RB)... at least thats what i observed..

[iceburns288]

Originally posted by habsfan
are you that defensive about ferrari that you couldnt see that his car was fine mechanically :rolleyes: all that happened to his car was some body work fell off. maybe some suspension damage, but if it was bad enough to retire, then why did he feel the need to drive all the way back to the pits?

Look man, it could have happened to anybody. You said yourself he might have had suspension damage, it could probably make it to the pits but do you think it would hold up 20 laps at 3+ lateral g's? Schumi might have saved someone's life if instead he had kept going, only to have the suspension break and have the parts fly into the stands. :dunno:

BTW, Ferrari didn't break any rules by pitting Schumi IF there was nothing wrong. It's that simple. boi-alien has it right, if they let you do it, why not?

[Mike09]

Originally posted by iceburns288



BTW, Ferrari didn't break any rules by pitting Schumi IF there was nothing wrong. It's that simple. boi-alien has it right, if they let you do it, why not?
Couldn't agree more. The sport is all about taking the car and the rules to the limit. beside's a 10 point lead on michael's Ferrari is better than a new engine. IMO. It's only got 1 race on it.
But beside's all that it was a very boring race.

[habsfan]

ya you guys are right, if you can stretch the rules that far then i guess go for it. i didnt quite understand the rules before and how it worked but i looked into em today and i guess its a smart, albeit kinda cheap move. i also didnt know that BAR did the same thing and retired their 2 cars. so ya i can see why they did it, but i still dont agree with it and hope the rules are altered to prevent it.

[Team_Mclaren]

conclusion: this rule is retarded:nut:

[seer_claw]

I hadn't heard about that rule but I have to agree. It is a really stupid rule. I imagine something will be done about it shortly or there will be very few cars actually finishing the races.

[iceburns288]

Does anyone else think limited amounts of nitrous would allow some interesting passing and strategy? I'm desperate for passing, nitrous would allow it!:dunno:

[Team_Mclaren]

Originally posted by iceburns288
Does anyone else think limited amounts of nitrous would allow some interesting passing and strategy? I'm desperate for passing, nitrous would allow it!:dunno:

lol NAZZZZZ

[habsfan]

:rofl: :rofl: i just had a hilarious picture in my head

you see a close up at the starting line, montoya looks over at raikonnen, purges his nitrous and give "the nod"



:D

[Team_Mclaren]

^^^:rofl: or Sato driving his honda playing the civic nation song in the background...:burnout:

[habsfan]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

instead of a spoiler he has a huge sub box lol

[962 kid]

Originally posted by habsfan
why did he feel the need to drive all the way back to the pits?


While it is rare to see the Schummie "Chop" so early in the season it was good to see F1 racing again.

MS is a "superstar" so he won't walk back to the pits,

1) RB was still in the points so he couldn't stop and give him a ride
2) None of the corner workers had a motorbike with them
3) If he walked through the gravel trap to push a reporter off of his bike to drive back, he might get sand in his driving shoes.
4) The race was still in session So MS could not call for his heli'

he obviously hade no choice but to drive himself back to the pits

[rage2]

Originally posted by iceburns288
Does anyone else think limited amounts of nitrous would allow some interesting passing and strategy? I'm desperate for passing, nitrous would allow it!:dunno:
Champcar has it (kinda), called Push to Pass or something. You get 20 seconds or something throughout an entire race, press the button and get 5psi more boost!

It did make things a little more exciting.

[Alpine Autowerks]

at least 1 of the teams (renault I think) has a rev limiter over-ride the drivers can use if ordered/permited by the engineeer.

a small can of no2 in each car would give a nice bump for an actual on track pass, but it is braking power that has taken away the passing not a lack of HP.

[boi-alien]

i just think it's rather unfortunate that with all these new rules to make the races more competitive it really hasn't accomplished that end. The race was... boring to say the least, there was no passing whatsoever except for in the pits. I guess it was rather refreshing to see something other than a red car at the front, but really, how fun is it to watch a race with no passing. I don't know about everyone else, but I get really excited when you have drivers late braking into a turn and dive bombing in the inside to try and pass. I don't know what they could to do to this end. maybe they just need less of these high downforce courses and more courses like spa or monza

[Dave P]

http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story.asp?id=118537




Uhhhh Ohhh.
Poor JV hahah

[hyperwhite]

damn, that was quick. it makes you think about how a world champion could lose his skills so fast

[habsfan]

2 days until Malysia. i sure hope JV picks it up, i would hate to see him booted so quickly. although i did hear somehwere that he might be in talks with BAR again, but i dont remember where i heard it.

[Dave P]

I doubt bar would ever take jv back.

[Evro]

haha what i meant by no more sauber was no more competing chance for sauber, by the way check out the ferrari f2005, the front wing looks kinda out there (not like those stupid ass horns on the mclaren but close),

haha i was excpecting mclaren to make an impressive start this season with JPM and Kimi and this new overdeveloped car, but theyre still a shitty team :thumbsdow , also im kinda impressed by RedBull 7 & 4 on their first race, thats better than jaguar could ever do,

what u pepl think about the new 2 race weekend engine rule and 1 set of tyres per race regulation??

[habsfan]

Zonta Tops Malaysian GP Combined Friday Practice

With track temperatures verging on almost 140 degrees Fahrenheit (and air temps reaching 95), Toyota third driver Ricardo Zonta needed only 17 morning laps to easily top this Friday’s F1 practice sessions.

Saving equipment was the order of the day, leaving the path open for third drivers to dominate the timesheets in the first session, as, unlike racers, their engines don’t need to last two full GP weekend distances.

rest of the story here (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/15716/)

massa ran about 1.5 seconds quicker than JV, hopefully he pick it up soon :banghead:

EDIT: after lookin more into it, i read that massa and JV were on different tires and different fuel loads, so sauber says the gap between them should be considered "artificial"

[rage2]

Originally posted by Evro
haha i was excpecting mclaren to make an impressive start this season with JPM and Kimi and this new overdeveloped car, but theyre still a shitty team :thumbsdow , also im kinda impressed by RedBull 7 & 4 on their first race, thats better than jaguar could ever do
The times are far from accurate on Friday. Saturday should tell us more as to the teams true performances, as the soft tires are proven not to work through an entire race distance already, so everyone should be on the hard compound. Melborne was a mess, so we still don't have a clear indication of how each team is performing against each other.

BTW - McLaren was 2nd (de la rosa), hardly shitty. Schumacher was 4th, and on soft tires too. They were showing heavy signs of wear after 10 laps.

[Dave P]

Glad to see the powers to be now can penalize teams for abusing the 2 race engine rule

[Evro]

Originally posted by rage2

BTW - McLaren was 2nd (de la rosa), hardly shitty..

haha i was talking about the race in melbourne, i thought the tires held up well in australia
as far as telling how the teams will fair against eachother i agree with you that its early to decide (ferrari doesnt even have their new car and we dont really know how the engines will handle 2 weekends) but as far as first impressions go the obvious renault great performance compared to that of mclaren was what i meant by a shitty start

anyway what were the other regulation changes, aside from the obvious tire and engine changes??

[rage2]

That's what I said, Melborne wasn't a good indicator of performance. Qualifying was messed up by the rain, and because of people saving tires, there was zero passing on the track. Everyone was stuck behind everyone. Passing only in the pits. Bad indicator of performance.

[Evro]

hopefully this race there some good passing, there was some ok action in melbourne a bit down the pack

i caint wait to see schumi and kimi go at it when the f2005 is introduced and once the teams are adjusted to the new tire regulations

[A2VR6]

Hmm Alonso with P1 for now and with Trulli as P2 intresting! What happened to Sato? From what I saw it was Davidson driving the 2nd BAR Honda and not Sato...

[Team_Mclaren]

Sato pulled out, he got a fever!:nut:

didnt watch Q1, but from the time posted, some interesting positions... Toyota 2/5.... Ferrari only 12/14. Should be a good race!

[habsfan]

heres the saturday qualifying times for all those who would like to know

1 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:32.582
2 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:32.672
3 6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:32.765
4 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.839
5 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:33.106
6 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:33.204
7 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.333
8 8 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 1:33.464
9 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:33.616
10 15 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 1:33.724
11 14 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1:33.809
12 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:34.072
13 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:34.151
14 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:34.162
15 4 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda 1:34.866
16 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 1:34.887
17 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:37.806
18 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:37.856
19 20 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth 1:39.268
20 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 1:40.432

[rage2]

Renault - wow (no surprise really)
Toyota - wow
McLaren - wow
Ferrari - wow (as in wow wtf happened???)

The bridgestones must SUCK! Ferrari over 1.5 seconds behind, and Sauber (using Ferrari motors) outqualified a Ferrari!

[A2VR6]

Originally posted by rage2

The bridgestones must SUCK! Ferrari over 1.5 seconds behind, and Sauber (using Ferrari motors) outqualified a Ferrari!

Yea no kidding! I was amazed! They said during qualifying that the 2005 car for Ferrari thats being developed right now would be about 1 second faster than the current car being used... If that were true, they would still be slower than the Renaults!

[rage2]

Alonso got the pole in the Renault.

Ferrari down in 12th and 13th.

[habsfan]

so lets see...race starts at 2am eastern time...should run until 3:30, 4ish. so if i time this perfectly, i should be able to pull off a solid 4 - 4.5 hours of sleep before i go to work :D

[habsfan]

well, the race is over. must say, this one was far more entertaining than in melbourne. some great scraps between ralf and both bmws, wish it hadnt ended in a wreck though. alonso, pretty much uncontested victory, and congrats to toyota on their first podium :thumbsup:

Unofficial Results (i did this by memory so heres to hoping i didnt make any mistakes :D)

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Jarno Trulli
3. Nick Heidfeld
4. Juan Montoya
5. Ralf Schumacher
6. David Coulthard
7. Michael Schumacher
8. Christian Klein
9. Kimi Raikonnen
10. Felipe Massa
11. Narain Karthikeyan
12. Tiago Monteiro
13. Christijan Albers

DNF:
Rubens Barichello
Mark Webber
Giancarlo Fischicella
Jacques Villeneuve
Jensen Button
Anthony Davidson
Patrick Friesacher

[cloud7]

It was a ok race... boring to start except for Davidson's fight with Villeneuve for a few corners... then everyone kind of stayed in line for the next 30 laps to conserve tire (this new one-tire rule isn't gonna make F1 any more exciting)... the last 10-20 laps were pretty exciting actually with some good fights (good that I didn't fall asleep through the boring parts).

Toyota finally have something to show for for all the money they put into their F1 program. BAR Honda need to work on their reliability big time. Ferrari will probably be very competitive once they race their 2005 cars. Renault is just amazing at the moment... and is dominating F1 right now.

[Dave P]

WOOOOO Lets Go Alonso

First Place Baby

[Dave P]

Ohhh Ya Renault ROCKS

[fast95pony]

Interesting race. Great showing by Renault.Both Red Bull's in the points.Toyota coming along well. Ferrari not so good..and Honda : three laps on new engines..BANG !!! :eek:

Should be a great season though ! :thumbsup:

[Chandler_Racing]

That was disapointing 2 engines go within seconds.

[Team_Mclaren]

awesome race. kimi could've got at least third if he kept it up.. bad luck on the tyre. Also racing for many different positions, two bmws with toyota and the two redbulls with RB just to name a few. Toyota stepped up alot!

I think the one set tyre rule was good, even tho it played a bad role against kimi, anyone see the shots at the tryes by the end!:eek: there are noth left.!

also: JV is DONE!:(

[rage2]

Originally posted by fast95pony
Interesting race. Great showing by Renault.Both Red Bull's in the points.Toyota coming along well. Ferrari not so good..and Honda : three laps on new engines..BANG !!! :eek:

Should be a great season though ! :thumbsup:
I heard BAR decided to use the old engine, not the new one. They didn't take advantage of the loophole at Melbourne. Neither did Ferrari with Schumacher's car. I maybe wrong on BAR though...

On a side note, if Kimi's tire didn't blow up, he would've been 2nd or 3rd. Go McLaren!

[fast95pony]

I was really cheering for Kimi . I had him down to win in a website pool . He was running great till the tire problem.

Last year predicting the top 6 cars was fairly easy.This year ,so far anyway,it's been very difficult to predict the top 8 cars. This makes watching F1 so much better.

Alonso for this year's driving Champ ?? :dunno:

[Ripper]

Originally posted by rage2

I heard BAR decided to use the old engine, not the new one. They didn't take advantage of the loophole at Melbourne. Neither did Ferrari with Schumacher's car. I maybe wrong on BAR though...

On a side note, if Kimi's tire didn't blow up, he would've been 2nd or 3rd. Go McLaren!

Judging by Button's comments after the race I'd say they did change up the engines.

"Compared to last year we have made a huge step back in every area it looks like at the moment. It is not good enough. Engineering an engine to do three laps is not hard," Button said. "We are quick, that's the annoying thing, we had the pace and we had a good strategy. This has to change and the thing is I know it is not going to change soon. I am very angry... but there you go."

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/index.html

[iceburns288]

Originally posted by Dave P
Ohhh Ya Renault ROCKS

You look like a little blue soldier...:rofl: :rofl: :D

[Chandler_Racing]

Originally posted by Ripper


Judging by Button's comments after the race I'd say they did change up the engines.

"Compared to last year we have made a huge step back in every area it looks like at the moment. It is not good enough. Engineering an engine to do three laps is not hard," Button said. "We are quick, that's the annoying thing, we had the pace and we had a good strategy. This has to change and the thing is I know it is not going to change soon. I am very angry... but there you go."

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/index.html

The statement presents the idea they did, but they did mention that neither ferrari or honda took advantage of the loophole during the race :dunno:

[habsfan]

Bahrain Debut Confirmed for Ferrari F2005

It’s official: cornered after its interim F2004Ms were massacred by Renault in the first two races of the year, Ferrari has confirmed that the new F2005 will no longer debut in May’s Spanish GP as originally intended, going into action instead at the next race of the season, the April 3rd GP of Bahrain.


full story here (http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/15848/)

[civic_stylez]

^^i saw an interview with mikey on the speed channel and he says the new car is much better than the 2004, i think ferrari has reached a desperation point for this new car, the bridgestones have to step it up though, they arent even close to michelin in terms of testing. michelin has the definite advantage so far. but kimi raikonnen has to go easy on them, comparing JPMs michelins to kimis was like night and day. i still miss the tire change pit stops though. watching 10 guys stand around watching the fuel guy just looks wrong!:thumbsdow