[F1] Nieuwtjes topic deel #78

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Hakkinen did not call Schumacher 'tragic ex-hero'

Mika Hakkinen has denied calling Michael Schumacher a 'tragic ex-hero' after the newspaper attributing the comments to him apologised.

This week, the Finn was quoted by Munich newspaper TZ as saying Michael Schumacher had made "a ridiculous mistake" at the start of the recent Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and should retire immediately.

TZ has now issued an apology and correction, admitting that the column had not been authorised by double world champion Hakkinen.

"The statements attributed to Mr Hakkinen, particularly in relation to Michael Schumacher, were not true and were not authorised. We regret this and apologise to our readers, to Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher, and as a consequence we are no longer working with the staff member concerned."

Vettel en Massa hebben beide andere helmen??

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F1: Team Orders To Be Regulated Not Banned - Todt
The FIA will not completely abolish the rule prohibiting team orders in Formula One...
^{SPEED Staff / GMM | Posted November 19, 2010 GMM Newswire}

Team orders will be "regulated" rather than allowed in Formula One, FIA president Jean Todt has revealed.

The issue came back onto the agenda in 2010, when Felipe Massa was ordered aside for Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim by a Ferrari engineer telling the Brazilian: "Fernando is faster than you."

"Personally, I'm not against team orders, but I am against lying," the Frenchman is quoted as saying in interviews this week.

He said covert team orders "deceive the audience and the media" and subsequently require teams and drivers to lie afterwards.

"Team orders have been banned since 2002, but I ask myself how many have been issued in a 'soft' way. The difference with that and what Ferrari did (at Hockenheim) is that it was anything but soft.

"It was a provocation against the regulations," Todt told Italy's La Stampa.

But when asked if the FIA will react to the latest affair by simply abolishing the rule, he answered: "It will be regulated.

"F1 is a team sport and each team will have responsibility for their behavior. We will not tolerate lies or coded messages like 'Save fuel.'"

Fascinatingly, former Ferrari team boss Todt blamed Rubens Barrichello for the original team orders controversy of 2002, when the Brazilian was explicitly ordered on the radio to 'Let Michael (Schumacher) pass for the championship.'

"I shouldn't have had to say anything," Todt said this week.

"We had agreed beforehand that if he (Barrichello) is in front after the pit stop, he was to let Schumacher pass without making a fuss.

"It was agreed, and drivers are paid to accept certain decisions.

"But he made me call him 50 times and he moved at the last corner - the audience booed, Schumacher gave him first place on the podium and Ferrari was fined $500,000 for violating protocol," he explained.

Asked if he regrets the affair, he admitted: "Yes, because with hindsight it could have been avoided. Schumacher would have won the championship anyway.

"But I would have regretted even more if we had lost the title by a couple of points," added Todt.

And in an interview with France's L'Equipe, Todt said he thought the works Renault drivers "helped" Renault-powered Red Bull to win the 2010 championship by holding up key rivals in Abu Dhabi.

"They (Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov) helped Red Bull, even though this team often complain about the lack of competitiveness of the Renault engine," he said.

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Porsche Ready To Return To F1 In 2013?

The new chairman of Porsche, Matthias Mueller, made the shock announcement at the 2010 Paris Motor show that Porsche were considering re-entering F1. He stated that it was no longer desirable for Porsche to be competing with sister company Audi at Le Mans. However, many people were still sceptical with memories still fresh of the recent withdrawals of Honda, BMW, Toyota and Ford. Indeed, Toyota became famous for failing to win a single race on an annual budget of $400 million. This was a statistic that literally reduced the Toyota chairman to tears when announcing the car manufacturers withdrawal from the sport. BMW meanwhile, now focus their attention on the German Touring car championship, citing a closer link to road car developments as the reason. However, in F1s favour is the fact that it is hugely popular, and manages to pull in 600 million viewers worldwide every year. It has even managed to make Nigel Mansell attractive to companies looking for advertising opportunities, with the 1992 world champion appearing in the latest Moneysupermarket car insurance advertisements 15 years after his retirement. So how likely is it that Porsche will return?

The new formula

New FIA president Jean Todt has realised the need to improve the sports image, which has been damaged by repeated scandals over the past ten years. On top of this, critics claim the sport is out of touch with the real world, as it is simply wasting valuable fossil fuels. Todt has aimed to rectifying this problem by improving the sports green credentials with the following 3 steps:

Banning on in race refuelling- For 2010, the teams are no longer allowed to refuel their cars during the races and must start with enough fuel to get them to the end. This has made it more important for the teams to be fuel efficient in order to benefit from reduced weight at the start (through having to carry less fuel) and reduced tyre wear (through having a lighter car).
The return of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS)- Todt has persuaded the teams to bring KERS back for 2011. This was previously withdrawn for cost reasons, but the relevance of the technology to road car developments of the future was reason enough for Todt and the teams to agree to re-introduce it for the start of 2011.
Smaller engines- The sport will reduced engine sizes from 2.4 litre V8s to 1.6 litre turbos for 2013.
The aim of this is to make sure that the sport is more relevant to road car developments, as car manufacturers strive to improve their fuel efficiencies. Although the sport is only at step one of Todts process, it has still increased the importance of fuel efficiency with the championship winning Red Bull Renault thought to be the most fuel efficient car on the grid in 2010. The KERS system is perhaps the most important element of this plan, with Ferrari having already implemented a KERS device on their 599 hybrid road car model. Therefore, the reason why BMW left the sport appears to have been addressed.

Money

The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) has made huge strides in its attempts to reduce spending in the sport by drawing up a resource restriction agreement which all the teams have agreed to. This reduces the amount all teams spend on their F1 programmes, thus allowing smaller teams to be competitive on a smaller budget. It was this agreement which led to Brawn GP being able to win the championship last year, and has allowed Virgin Racing to close the gap by over a second to the leading teams in six months despite operating on a $40 million budget, which is 10% of what Toyota were spending as they failed to win a race.

It is therefore now possible to be competitive in F1 with a very small budget. Richard Branson actually believes that it is possible for a team to be profitable and competitive in the sport, which would make his F1 team one of the most cost effective marketing platforms available. F1 has therefore changed significantly, and the reason why Honda, Toyota and Ford left appears to no longer be a problem.

Will Porsche enter F1?

All the problems that the car manufacturers previously had with the sport have now disappeared. Even the domineering Max Mosley no long has any involvement in the teams affairs. It therefore makes perfect sense for Porsche to take the opportunity presented by the new 1.6 litre turbo engine formula in 2013 and enter the sport. The fashion at the moment is to create your own team and aim for a profit, as Virgin, Air Asia (Lotus), Kingfisher (Force India) and Mercedes have done. However, dont forget that Porsche have collaborated with Williams in the past, with Williams supplying Porsches GT programme with KERS technology. Williams shareholder Toto Wolff has also driven for Porsche in the same GT series. This would help the team avoid a painful building process as they at first struggle to get all the ingredients in place for success, as Toyota did. Buying a former championship winning team would surely allow them to hit the ground running in 2013.

en in ander nieuws:

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Van der Garde wins $1.9m in Force India ruling

Giedo van der Garde has won a long legal battle with Force India.

The Dutch driver had pressed for a $2 million refund because, when the team was known as Spyker in 2007, he did only 2270 of the 6000 kilometres of testing that he was contractually promised.

Media reports reveal that a court has agreed that Force India must pay van der Garde $1.865 million.

Fascinatingly, van der Garde's manager Jeroen Schothorst said the ruling could help in his talks with Force India about a race seat in 2011.

"A few years ago this topic was a disadvantage, now it could be beneficial to us," he said.

[ Bericht 7% gewijzigd door Googolplexian op 19-11-2010 15:02:35 ]

Dag 1 van de Pirelli-test:

En nu besluit Massa snel te rijden

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Op vrijdag 19 november 2010 19:18 schreef kepler het volgende:
En nu besluit Massa snel te rijden

wellicht passen de banden beter bij de ferrari

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Op vrijdag 19 november 2010 19:18 schreef kepler het volgende:
En nu besluit Massa snel te rijden

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Pirelli exceeds drivers' expectations

[...]

Pacesetter Felipe Massa also complained of the degradation, and suspects that changes will be made to the compound before Pirelli finalises its tyres for next year.

He added that the performance of the soft tyre possibly surpassed that of the Bridgestone super soft, which was allocated as the option tyre for last weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"The harder compound has a lot of degradation and it's not as quick as I expected," Massa said.

"As for the softer tyre, I was very happy with it. It's quick, degradation is very good. I did long runs with both and the one I did with the softer tyre was very good, possibly better than what I had last Sunday in the race.

Zal denk ik wel door vetgedrukte komen.

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Op vrijdag 19 november 2010 19:22 schreef nils7 het volgende:

[..]



wellicht passen de banden beter bij de ferrari

Italianen onder elkaar hé.

Nog een extra link gevonden. Hierop staan onder meer de beste sectortijden van vandaag.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.u(...)full-lap-times-data/

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Op vrijdag 19 november 2010 19:23 schreef ElmarO het volgende:

Italianen onder elkaar hé.

Is Pirelli niet Frans?

doh!

Tijden van het ochtendgedeelte van dag 2:

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The Red Bull driver (Vettel) completed 28 laps this morning, and caused a brief red flag when he suffered a second tyre failure. This followed a similar failure yesterday that Pirelli confirmed was caused by the tyre being cut.

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Rosberg also described the degradation rate as "quite heavy", but added that despite his comments about tyre wear and pace, he felt the Pirellis could still be very good for the racing.

"If that's what they want and it's the same for everybody, then okay," he said. "Tyres like that always give more exciting racing as well. So it's not necessarily a bad thing."

BBC, 14:00.. seizoens overzicht!

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Op zaterdag 20 november 2010 11:54 schreef SjaakVilleneuve het volgende:
BBC, 14:00.. seizoens overzicht!

net op tijd thuis dus

Dag 2 van de Pirelli-test:

Had Kubica trouwens nog een penalty gekregen voor die actie van hem bij het uitkomen van de pit-straat (4 wielen over de witte lijn - abu dhabi)?

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Op zaterdag 20 november 2010 17:09 schreef LWD-Godius het volgende:
Had Kubica trouwens nog een penalty gekregen voor die actie van hem bij het uitkomen van de pit-straat (4 wielen over de witte lijn - abu dhabi)?

Nope

Het zal mij benieuwen wanneer de namenkwestie van de Lotus-teams opgelost wordt.

Ikzelf denk dat dit pas het geval is wanneer het 1Malaysia Team afgekocht is, want door de naamsverandering lopen ze waarschijnlijk ook geld van het Formula One Management mis. Pas bij een bod van dit bedrag plus nog wat extra voor bijkomende kosten zal Tony Fernandes er over na gaan denken, lijkt me.

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Op zondag 21 november 2010 12:58 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Ziet er netjes uit.

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Op zondag 21 november 2010 12:58 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Ziet er goed uit Googol

thx ^^

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Op zondag 21 november 2010 12:58 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Ik mis het vingertje van Vettel

Ziet er goed uit

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Op zondag 21 november 2010 12:58 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Top , kan niet wachten

Is er al iets van een schema bekend met bekendmakingen van de bolides voor 2011?

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Op zaterdag 20 november 2010 22:29 schreef Peterselieman het volgende:
Het zal mij benieuwen wanneer de namenkwestie van de Lotus-teams opgelost wordt.

Ikzelf denk dat dit pas het geval is wanneer het 1Malaysia Team afgekocht is, want door de naamsverandering lopen ze waarschijnlijk ook geld van het Formula One Management mis. Pas bij een bod van dit bedrag plus nog wat extra voor bijkomende kosten zal Tony Fernandes er over na gaan denken, lijkt me.

Dat snap ik dus niet. Dat zou betekenen dat niemand meer zonder consequenties van naam kan veranderen. Ik dacht altijd dat het zo was dat als je een team overneemt, dat je een jaar onder de oude naam moet racen voordat je de naam kan veranderen.

Vergelijk het met BAR, die Tyrrell overnam, en een jaar onder die naam doorgingen voordat de naamsverandering werd doorgevoerd. En BMW Sauber, die vanaf volgend jaar weer gewoon Sauber gaat heten. Een naamsverandering, die bewust is uitgesteld om te kunnen profiteren van de opbrengsten van vorig jaar.

Lotus blijft dezelfde eigenaar en zou dus (imho) zonder problemen hun naam moeten kunnen veranderen.

De enige mogelijkheid die ik zie is dat voor de nieuwere teams beperkingen gelden in deze. Dat je pas na het tweede jaar met een rigoureuze naamswijziging mag komen.

Het verhaal rond de gelden is één van de geruchten die spelen rond de naamskwestie van Lotus. Waarschijnlijk wordt pas op het laatste moment duidelijk wat de uitkomst is.

Gascoyne perplexed by Group Lotus

By Matt Beer Sunday, November 21st 2010, 17:06 GMT

Lotus Racing technical boss Mike Gascoyne says he remains confused by Group Lotus' unwillingness to work with his team in Formula 1.

quote:

Gascoyne and Tony Fernandes' team could well have to run under a different name in 2011 as the Lotus car company withdrew the squad's licence to use the Lotus Racing name and is disputing its right to use Team Lotus instead. Group Lotus also looks set to start its own F1 partnership with the Renault team.

With the situation still unresolved, Gascoyne argued that his Lotus team had proved that it could successfully represent the brand in F1.

"At the end of the day, we brought the Lotus name back into Formula 1, we've done a great job," Gascoyne told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"We don't really understand why Group Lotus don't want to support us in doing that job for them. We've brought great value to the brand and the shareholders invested something like £80 million into the brand and the development of the team, and we're a little bit failing to understand why Group Lotus seem to want to try to kick us out.

"That's not in my hands - my job doesn't change with the name and it's the same for all the engineering staff. But I think it's a great shame that there is this thing for everyone in Norfolk, because we're a Norfolk-based team, we brought the Lotus name back into Formula 1 and did it proud and we don't quite understand why we don't have the support of Group Lotus in that."

Gascoyne also declared himself 'perplexed' by Group Lotus' wider motorsport strategy, which will see it join IndyCar from 2012, partner with ART in GP2 and GP3, and plan a substantial expansion of its sportscar racing programme including creating an LMP2 car.

"They seem to have announced that they're going to join every racing series around the world, and the only question is who's going to pay for it?" said Gascoyne.

"Because they seem to want to do every racing series that there is, and for a loss-making car company, that seems to be slightly perplexing. But if that's what they want to do, good luck to them."

He added that despite the naming row, the current Lotus F1 team was very much on schedule with its 2011 preparations.

"We'll be firing the car up on 25 January in readiness for the first test in February," said Gascoyne.

"We've had lots of exciting announcements with Renault supplying us with engines, Red Bull Technologies supplying us with gearboxes and our own windtunnel developing, so it wasn't just about 10th in the championship this year, it was about building the team up so that we move solidly into the midfield next year. Those announcements are all very much part of that and we're bang on schedule."

autosport.com

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Op zondag 21 november 2010 23:47 schreef Tarado het volgende:
Gascoyne perplexed by Group Lotus

By Matt Beer Sunday, November 21st 2010, 17:06 GMT

Lotus Racing technical boss Mike Gascoyne says he remains confused by Group Lotus' unwillingness to work with his team in Formula 1.

[..]

autosport.com

Er is al een protest-site, die alle claims van Proton op de Team Lotus naam weerlegt.

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The purpose of this site? Team Lotus's future, perhaps its very survival, is under serious threat. Not due to financial woes or lack of public support or any 'legitimate' reason. No, it's apparently down to the jealousy, greed and egos of certain individuals, no better reason than that.

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Op zaterdag 20 november 2010 15:20 schreef ElmarO het volgende:
Dag 2 van de Pirelli-test:

[ code verwijderd ]

Schumi!!!

Valencia wil van contract af

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Organisers of the European Grand Prix at Valencia are desperately trying to offload the race contract to an alternate host.

That is the claim of the Spanish newspaper El Periodico, reporting that regional president Francisco Camps has determined that the port city cannot afford the annual fee and organisation costs.

On the sidelines of the city race in June, he reportedly asked Bernie Ecclestone if Valencia's contract - with two years left to run - can be broken, to which the F1 chief executive "flatly refused".

The report said the organisers are spending EUR 30 million on the race annually, including an 18m fee to Ecclestone's group and the cost of building and de-constructing the street circuit.

Only 10m is covered by the sale of tickets, having diminished from a race-day crowd of 112,000 in 2008 to just 75,000 this year.

Ecclestone reportedly told Camps that an alternative promoter and venue would have to be found, with the newspaper claiming negotiations with the circuit in Alcaniz as well as Portimao in Portugal have been held.

At the same time, it has been reported that Camps and Valencia mayoress Rita Barbera have held meetings with Ferrari about hosting the site of an Abu Dhabi-style theme park in the city.

Formula 1 and Valencia
November 23, 2010 by joesaward

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Francisco Camps, the President of the Generalitat Valenciana, the government of the autonomous community of Valencia, has denied that the region is trying to get rid of the European Grand Prix, because it is costing them too much money. The claims were published at the end of last week. The opposition has claimed that the Grand Prix has cost the region $200 million since it began in 2008. This is possible when one considers that the costs include not only the race fees, which could be as high as $40 million a year, but also the necessary preparation work, the annual construction costs for the temporary facilities and the losses that may have been made in the three events to date.

The opposition has not, however, taken into account the benefits that the race has generated. This is also interesting given that rumours in F1 circles have long suggested that Valencia has not been paying its fees on time. The race has been slow to take off, but there seemed to be a decent crowd this year.

The government has dismissed the claims, saying that they are not true and simply designed to damage the reputation of the ruling Partido Popular.

The claims are odd in that a couple of weeks ago Camps and Valencia Mayor Rita Barberá travelled to Italy to discuss the possibility of the construction of a second Ferrari theme park in the city. Without a Grand Prix this would be a fairly pointless exercise

Valencia has recently been named European capital of sport for the year 2011.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/formula-1-and-valencia/

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Op dinsdag 23 november 2010 15:41 schreef sasquatsch het volgende:
Valencia wil van contract af
[..]

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Op dinsdag 23 november 2010 15:47 schreef Tarado het volgende:
Formula 1 and Valencia
November 23, 2010 by joesaward

[..]

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/formula-1-and-valencia/

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Monza concerned by Rome F1 rumours
^{Tue, 23 Nov 14:10:57 2010}

Italian Grand Prix organisers have expressed concern that a proposed F1 race on the streets of Rome could see the sport elect to leave Monza.
Bernie Ecclestone has made no secret of his wish to have a race on the streets of the Italian capital although no deal has yet been signed to allow an event to take place.
While both Ecclestone and Rome chiefs insist that there is room for two Italian races on the calendar, in much the same way as Spain holds events at both Catalunya and Valencia, Monza boss Enrico Ferrari has revealed he is worried that a street race could mark the end for a circuit that has been on the schedule since 1950 aside from the 1980 event which was held at Imola.
"Amid a globalisation of grands prix, each country will inevitably be allowed to stage only one," he told Bloomberg. "Since Rome is the capital, I'm afraid we'd lose the grand prix forever."
The Rome City Council is due to meet this month to consider how to move forwards with its bid to host an F1 race, despite mayor Gianni Alemanno insisting that the plans dont have the overwhelming support of local residents

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Petrov's Facebook page defaced

Vitaly Petrov has revealed that his Facebook page has been defaced by fans accusing him of "blocking" Fernando Alonso during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Ferrari's Alonso missed out on the 2010 World title by four points after he finished behind Petrov in seventh place in the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi.

In an interview with Germany's Bild, Petrov revealed nasty things have been written on his social networking page.

"On my Facebook page many fans insulted me, saying I blocked Alonso. That is nonsense as I didn't do anything wrong. Ferrari made a tactical error."

Petrov, who accused Alonso of having "bad manners" after the Ferrari driver made a gesture in his direction during the slow-down lap in Abu Dhabi, says he wasn't aware that by keeping the Spaniard behind him, he was helping Sebastian Vettel to win the World Championship.

"I kept Alonso behind me for 39 laps," he said. "Nobody told me on the radio that by doing so I would help Sebastian to become World Champion. Even if he overtook me, he would've had to pass [Nico] Rosberg. I drove my own race against Alonso."

Although new World Champion Vettel hasn't congratulated him personally, the Red Bull driver has said he is grateful on his website.

"He doesn't have my telephone number," Petrov said. "However, I saw that he wrote on his website telling his fans that it he is very grateful to me. That's very nice of him. Before the race he wished me good luck.

"He deserves the title. The newspapers talk about a miracle, but it was hard work."

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vitaly-Petrov/282572284893

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Op donderdag 25 november 2010 10:17 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vitaly-Petrov/282572284893

Adrian Newey talks about the RB6, the RB7 and the thrill of winning [another] Formula One Constructors Championship...

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Did you always have confidence in the RB6? Did you think it had Championship potential from the first day it rolled out of the garage in Jerez?
Adrian Newey: Occasionally you can still spot a winning car from day one, but its getting increasingly difficult to judge. You will have a reasonable idea of whether or not the car is performing as its expected to but you have no idea whether thats going to be good enough. You simply dont know what the competition are doing with their fuel loads. Its difficult to know where you are pace-wise until you start doing race simulations.

"The other thing to consider is the development race. Having the fastest car at the beginning of the year doesnt guarantee you a championship by any means. If you get out-developed by your competitors, then you could be well down the grid by the end of the season."

The Red Bulls seemed to really pull away from the field once the season got back to Europe. Was that a case of gaining a development advantage, or were the circuits being better suited to the car?
AN: Its always a little bit difficult to judge. Actually the race in China was very disappointing to us and when we go to Barcelona for the first race of the European season we had a raft of new part on the car but so did everybody else. The power circuits with long straights Spa and Monza havent suited us and I was disappointed in Turkey; although we were leading the race when the drivers had their coming together, I didnt feel we were pulling away as we had hoped. I think, generally speaking, the pace of development if you dont take it race by race but every few races then the pace of development has been similar between the top three teams.

How do you react when a rival introduces something like the F-Duct. Is there a sense of remorse at not having thought of it yourself?
AN: Not really. Theres no point in beating yourself up about it. If you take the F-Duct, fine, hats off to the young lad at McLaren who spotted that loophole and applied it. But once you understand what theyve done, its just a matter of getting on and doing your own version.

Was it tough to shoehorn the ducting into a homologated chassis?
AN: Its not ideal because of course the chassis wasnt designed for it; you have to be opportunistic in the way its plumbed. If we were to have another go at an F-Duct with a brand-new chassis we could refine it a bit more. But we managed to get it in and get it done and have it working to a satisfactory level.

The speed of change in F1 at the moment is remarkable. Has the constant demand for new parts changed how you do your work?
AN: I like it; I enjoy that sort of challenge though the speed at which new parts need to be generated and put on the car very much depend upon the part because its all related to lead-time. Something like a monocoque or a gearbox maincase; realistically those have to wait until the start of the next season, whereas trim on a front wing is something that can be ready the next day and theres every level in between those two.

The commotion mid-season about the degree of flex in Red Bulls front wing must have been distracting how did the team deal with that?
AN: It wasnt a distraction, but it was an annoyance. Ive got to say Ive never known a season quite like this one for the petty finger pointing thats gone on in the paddock. Its a shame, but the bottom line is that what weve done with the front wing has been endlessly investigated by the press and the FIA. The FIA quite rightly have to look at it, as they have to take these things seriously and what weve done is completely legal.

The other potentially controversial issue with the RB6 has been its pace in Q3. Even now, at the end of the season, other teams still mutter about not understanding how it improves by around three-tenths in that session. Anything to say about that?
AN: Its a myth! Im not sure our Q3 performance has been particularly different to our Q1 and Q2 performance, to be honest. I havent bothered looking through statistics, but I think its one of these stories that starts when once on twice the drivers have improved in Q3 and suddenly everybody writes it and it becomes accepted without any real basis. Sometimes it might be the case that well only do one run on the harder tyres to get through the sessions, so it looks different in Q3 with the softer tyres but the basic idea is a myth.

Looking forward to next year, we know you like regulations changes, but isnt it the last thing a winning team wants to see?
AN: Not necessarily. The unfortunate thing about the changes coming in next year is that they are all restrictions. So, the double diffuser is banned, which once weve all got it, banning it removes an area of freedom. Then theres the change to Pirelli tyres we dont know anything about them yet. Its impossible to predict them so its impossible to design a car around them.

Will you learn a great deal from this weeks first Pirelli tyre test?
AN: I hope we learn things next week, but in terms of the fundamental architecture of the car, thats done. The lead times are such that you cant now change the layouts.

So, is everybody designing for 2011 with an element of caution? Will the fixed weight distribution of the cars compensate for the unknown characteristics of the tyres?
AN: The restriction in weight distribution, which I think is 45:55 ± one per cent is, I suppose, helpful in so much as it should be possible to design a car within that range and then if the Pirelli tyres demand one extreme or the other , we can got to that but not beyond it which was the point of the regulation. But we dont know which end of the spectrum that will be.

How motivated are you to very literally go back to the drawing board. Is there anything left to prove?
AN: The motivations are there because I enjoy my job. The ambition when I joined Red Bull was initially to get the team to a point where it could take race wins; the dream was winning the Constructors Championship. Achieving that goal is very special but it doesnt change my day-to-day outlook. I enjoy working for Red Bull, its a good team to work for, we have a good atmosphere and I enjoy the design aspect of being involved. So, so long as Im enjoying it, Ill keep doing it.

http://www.redbullracing.(...)entFeed&refmodpos=A8

Ik denk dat we Korea wel van de 2011 kalender kunnen schrappen al.

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Ecclestone robbed in London again

Bernie Ecclestone was mugged in London on Wednesday night and had to go to hospital after getting a bump on the head. However he was reportedly back at work the following day.

Bernie and his girlfriend Fabiana Flosi were returning to his apartment when they were attacked by four men. They were forced to hand over watches and jewellery that are said to be worth £200,000.

Bernie was involved in a similar attack four years ago, when thieves attempted to steal his Mercedes.

A police spokesman told the Daily Mail: We were called to reports of a man and woman who had been robbed in south west London at approximately 10.30pm on Wednesday night. The man, aged 80 years old, was taken to a west London hospital for treatment to a minor head injury. The woman was not injured.

At this early stage it is believed a quantity of jewellery was stolen but we cannot disclose details of what was stolen as yet. No arrests have been made at this time and inquiries are continuing.

Ironically Ecclestone was sceptical about reports of the seriousness of the attempted attack on Jenson Button in Brazil two weeks ago. Given that he has now twice been attacked on home ground he probably finds Sao Paulo relaxing

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Op vrijdag 26 november 2010 08:32 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:

[..]

Heeft Bernie geen beveiliging? Hij is er rijk genoeg voor.

Hij rekent het gewoon uit die vrek, 200000pond in 4 jaar, daar heb je geen behoorlijke bewaking voor

quote:

Op vrijdag 26 november 2010 08:22 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:
Ik denk dat we Korea wel van de 2011 kalender kunnen schrappen al.

Waarom?

quote:

Op vrijdag 26 november 2010 08:22 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:
Ik denk dat we Korea wel van de 2011 kalender kunnen schrappen al.

Ik hoop het niet, ik vind het een leuk circuit

quote:

Op vrijdag 26 november 2010 09:36 schreef Pleasureman_Gunther het volgende:

[..]

Waarom?

Omdat ik denk dat de FIA geen race wil houden in instabiel oorlogsgebied en de huidige situatie gaat zeker een staartje krijgen aldaar ... denk ik.

quote:

Op vrijdag 26 november 2010 10:14 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:

[..]

Omdat ik denk dat de FIA geen race wil houden in instabiel oorlogsgebied en de huidige situatie gaat zeker een staartje krijgen aldaar ... denk ik.

Zou kunnen, ik denk dat het wel met een sisser gaat aflopen, Noord Korea zal wel weer met veel te weinig voedsel zitten en probeert er met provoceren weer wat te eten uit te slepen, zo voor de winter

Die Ecclestone ook weer he.. "Only simple people get robbed" ... tuurlijk

quote:

Op vrijdag 26 november 2010 14:03 schreef Atreidez het volgende:
Die Ecclestone ook weer he.. "Only simple people get robbed" ... tuurlijk

Nog een paar juweeltjes (heh) van seniele Bernie :

"You know, I've got one of these wonderful ideas that women should all be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances."

"They think they've got me by the balls--their hands aren't big enough."

"Why would I rob a train with only two and a half million pounds on it?"

quote:

Op vrijdag 26 november 2010 08:32 schreef Googolplexian het volgende:

[..]

hij had van schrik een hartaanval moeten krijgen

quote:

Ricciardo gets STR Friday practice role

Daniel Ricciardo will drive for Toro Rosso in Friday practice sessions at all grands prix in 2011, the team has announced.

The Australian, a product of Red Bull's driver development system, was already a reserve for both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, and dominated the recent Abu Dhabi rookie test for the former team.

Ricciardo will replace one of Toro Rosso's race drivers, Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, in practice at each event, with the two drivers alternating in stepping aside for the 21-year-old.

Team boss Franz Tost welcomed Ricciardo's promotion and joked that it would keep Buemi and Alguersuari on their toes.

"When our team was created, its stated aim was to bring on young drivers from the Red Bull Junior Programme, so Daniel's appointment as our third driver is an obvious one," he said.

"Although Daniel has done some F1 testing already, running on Fridays at the grands prix will give him a valuable insight into the additional pressures of doing it for real during a race weekend.

"I am also sure that having a hungry youngster on the books will keep our current driver pairing nice and sharp!"

Ricciardo will also contest the Formula Renault 3.5 series again next season. He finished second in the championship at the first attempt this year.

"I am really excited at the prospect of driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso in the free practice one sessions at the grands prix next year, so I have to say thanks to Red Bull for this great opportunity," he said.

"My main priority for 2011 is to win the Formula Renault 3.5 championship, but my ultimate aim is to be a full-time Formula 1 driver and this new role has to be the best step towards achieving that ambition."

Zo heeft wel klappies gehad die Eikelstone



http://www.dailymail.co.u(...)200-000-mugging.html

Dat is een serieuze dreun geweest ja

quote:

Op zaterdag 27 november 2010 17:19 schreef Peterselieman het volgende:
Dat is een serieuze dreun geweest ja

Hij kan het gelukkig navertellen, had ook anders kunnen aflopen

De Nations Cup in de Race of Champions is nu bezig

Volgens mij zijn die foto's fake, vooral bij dat oog.

quote:

Op zaterdag 27 november 2010 21:45 schreef vosss het volgende:

[..]

Ik denk dat het wel meevalt hoor. Ok het is een flink dik oog, maar die oudjes hebben ook niet bepaald veel nodig zegmaar qua geweld om er zo uit te zien volgens mij

Ziet eruit alsof het de afdruk is van zijn (brille-)glas aan die kant, je ziet ook de afdruk van de neusvleugel zegmaar op zijn neus.
tis dus niet verstandig de straat op te gaan met twee glaasjes op

[ Bericht 50% gewijzigd door Tarado op 29-11-2010 15:58:42 ]

MY TOP FIVE DRIVERS OF THE SEASON
Posted on | November 29, 2010 | by | No Comments
Im delighted to say that the JA on F1 2010 season Review Book is published today. Ive offered a signed copy to the first ten readers whose Top Five drivers of the Season match my choice.
Weve had a great response from readers sending in their Top Five, with just under 1,000 entries. Thanks to everyone for taking part.
The 2010 season was really enjoyable for fans and insiders alike. There was quite a buzz in the paddock all season with the various battles going on between teams and between team mates too.
When compiling a Top Five list, the considerations I use are; what were the drivers peaks, in terms of outstanding performances. Similarly what were the troughs, in terms of costly mistakes or underperformances. I also look very closely at consistency across the season.
Then I also take into account the performance of the car and how that stood relative to the opposition. That means looking at the relative pace of the cars through the season and the results that were achieved with it.
No driver achieved a faultless season the pressure was very high, the level of competition was intense and so they all made some mistakes. But there were some outstanding performances across the board and unlike last season, where it was hard to fill the top five positions, this year there were probably eight to ten drivers who had really good seasons.
There is no room for favouritism in a list like this, nor any points for historical achievement; this is all about who did the best job in the 19 race F1 season.
With that in mind heres my Top Five.

1. Sebastian Vettel
Vettel came of age in 2010, winning the world championship in a tense season long battle, despite the fact that it looked at times as though the title had got away from him. His record of 10 pole positions tells you that he had the fastest car this year, which is undoubtedly true, but also that he used it to good effect and invariably got the job done on Saturdays.
He didnt always get it done on Sundays for a variety of reasons, but his race performances were consistently strong. The wins in Malaysia, Japan and Korea were really good and he showed that he can dominate a weekend, which is what you need to do when you have a car advantage. His main mistakes were clearly in Spa, where he took out Button and in Turkey, which was more debatable given Webbers part in it, but he took himself out there and cost his team mate a probable win.
His weakness was impetuousness, the start in Silverstone, the botched pass in Spa and I agree with Alain Prosts assessment that winning the title will probably make him calm down a bit
He suffered quite a bit from reliability problems on his car, particularly with the engine. He would have won in Bahrain, Australia and Korea with better reliability and that would have made winning the title rather more comfortable.
It was a tough championship to win and he got the job done, you cant take anything away from him there.

2. Fernando Alonso
It was very hard to decide whether Alonso should be ahead of Hamilton and no doubt this will prove an emotive issue among some readers. Alonso had a slightly faster car for most of the season and finished 12 points ahead of his great rival.
The reason I put him ahead is partly because he passed Hamilton twice on track in the final races, showing his intent. Then also because of his six wins and five podiums, to Hamiltons three wins and six podiums and partly because he seemed to me to be more of a force throughout the season. Apart from Turkey, where he struggled, he was always competitive, always pushing.
His peaks were mighty, that last gasp qualifying lap in Abu Dhabi was pressure driving at its best, so was the win in Monza. I also thought his pass on Massa in the pit lane in China showed what a competitor he is. It set the tone for the season.
He made some big mistakes, which is uncharacteristic of him and which showed him struggling at times to cope with the emotional pressure inside Ferrari. He only got on top of that once the team had sided with him in the infamous team orders decision in Germany.
One of Alonsos worst mistakes was the crash in practice at Monaco which compromised his weekend. There were others, like Spa and the jump start in China. But the real damage to his title hopes was done in a series of races in early summer where he fell foul of the safety car. In Valencia he was very hard done by, in Silverstone he was pushing his luck by passing Kubica illegally and tried to stall for time, then very unlucky that the Renault retired so he could not give the place back.
There were some bad team mistakes, like misjudging timing during qualifying in Malaysia and of course the infamous call to pit in Abu Dhabi.
He hasnt made many friends this season and has probably lost a few fans as a result of his attitude at times, which was a bit disappointing for anyone who knows him, but he remains F1s benchmark driver and he edged it over Hamilton this year for me.

3. Lewis Hamilton
Lewis drove very well at times this year, his wins in Montreal and Spa were brilliantly crafted in particular.
Many people expected him to bury Jenson Button this year, but that didnt happen he finished 26 points ahead, which is the equivalent of a race win, more or less. His average grid slot was P4 to Jensons P5.5 (not counting Malaysia, which gives a skewed reading) and he was usually, but not always, the faster driver. As youd expect he was faster especially when the car was a bit unstable, after the difficult introduction of the exhaust blown diffuser in the summer.
He provides a lot of entertainment for F1 fans, his overtaking all year was tremendous, but it was often due to qualifying below where he should be, mostly the fault of the car or team, but not always. The McLaren didnt develop as strongly as in the past, which held him and Button back and Lewis found himself fighting without the right weapon quite a few times. But he always gave it 100%.
He was a consistent points scorer but also, like Vettel and Alonso, he had a very dominant run, in his case the six races from Monaco to Germany, where he scored 108 points, averaging 18 points per race. Vettel did 105 between Italy and Abu Dhabi, while Alonso did 111 in the same period.
He made some strange mistakes this year, particularly the costly accidents with Massa in Monza and Webber in Singapore. He also allowed himself to be overtaken by Alonso twice in the closing stages of the season. And another point against him is the way Button outsmarted him in Australia and China as well as on set up in Monza.

4. Mark Webber
If you had asked a couple of years ago, few people would have said that Webber would fight for a world title right down to the last round. The Australian is a great competitor but had always seemed to struggle to match his speed with consistent points scoring. That all changed this year as he went on a run in the spring and kept on scoring big points. It reminded me very much of Nigel Mansell who also came good in his mid 30s. The question now is, can he do it again next year?
It cannot have been easy to operate this season in the Red Bull environment, where everything is controlled from Austria and they so clearly have the team set up for Vettel for the future. But it would be a mistake to think that this is the whole story; Red Bull is a different beast from anything weve seen in F1 before and part of the game for them was the decision to let the drivers race each other at all costs and all the attention that drew. You have to admire them for that. The decision not to prioritise Webber in Brazil, as most race teams would have done, was fully vindicated by Vettel winning the title at the next race. It could so easily have cost them the title.
Red Bull was the biggest story of the year and if it hadnt been for Ferrari team orders, it would have been pretty much the only story this year. Thats the way they like it.
So Webbers regular cries for help and barbs about being a Number two driver, although genuine, were all part of the game.
In terms of peaks, his performances in Spain, Monaco and Hungary were as good as anything anyone managed all year. He was more consistent than the others, except when it counted in the last three races. Up to round 17 he averaged 13.7 points per race. If hed kept that going in the final three races he would have won the title with 260 points. However he let his average slip to just 7.3 points. One of the main reasons for that was crashing in the rain in Korea.

5. Robert Kubica
It was a very close one between Kubica, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button and if I was carrying this list on, Id put them in that order. The reason Id put Kubica a fraction ahead of Rosberg is that he finished just six points behind in the table in a car which was slower for most of the season. Ive checked the data with various engineers and the Mercedes was faster on the whole.
His peaks were higher too; his driving in Monaco was sublime as was his nouse in Australia where he finished second to Button. He was always on it, basically.
There were some limited peaks in car performance like Monaco, Spa (where they got the F Duct) and Suzuka. But for most of the season he was carrying the car.
Another factor in Kubicas favour is his performance in races relative to qualifying position. Whereas both he and Rosberg did consistently well at finishing ahead of where they qualified, a key indicator of a top driver in an average car, his positional gains were greater.
To be fair thats partly due to Rosberg hitting a glass ceiling not being able to compete with Red Bulls, Ferraris and McLarens, but its also an indicator of what Kubica was managing to do with the Renault
Both drivers murdered their team mates this season, Kubica by a bigger margin but then he was up against Petrov, whereas Rosberg had Michael Schumacher to contend with.

http://www.jamesallenonf1(...)ivers-of-the-season/

Blijft komisch... vent van 80 met 200.000 aan juwelen samen met een vrouw van 31 en een dochter van 26

heikki ook goed bezig in het na-seizoen

Kobayashi:

quote:

: What is your secret for overtaking?
KK: Because I am Japanese I have small eyes - so I can’t see the others guys.

Wat een held

quote:

Op maandag 29 november 2010 18:31 schreef kepler het volgende:
Kobayashi:

[..]

Wat een held

Chris(topher) Hilton, auteur van vele boeken over de F1 is overleden.

quote:

Eoin Yong pays tribute to his friend and fellow author Chris Hilton

Sad to hear that prolific motorsport author Chris Hilton died in a Berlin hotel at the end of November. In addition to motor racing books he was also fascinated with Hitler and the Berlin Olympics in 1936. His book "Hitler's Olympics" is on display in the Berlin museum! He told me he was there researching a new book "How Hitler Hijacked World Sport".

Chris arrived in Formula 1 at the 1981 Canadian GP, commissioned to report the race for a Fleet Street daily paper…and he'd never been to a race in his life! Since then he devoted himself to his new sport, totally researched all aspects of it, and wrote a series of books on drivers from Nuvolari to Senna and Schumacher. Along the way there were books on Le Mans '55, Jacques Villeneuve, Ken Tyrrell, Mika Hakkinen, Murray Walker and many others.

Earlier in November we had discussed Tom Rubython's book on James Hunt and he explained his reason for not wanting to read it. "I took a decision when Senna died that I would not read any of the outpouring of others because I felt it might influence me, and I didn't want to be influenced. It was not arrogance, I assure you, but simply that a lot of people would be going through it all again and again and I didn't want that cluttering what passes for my mind. I wanted to be able to go and find what I wanted to find."

A talented wordsmith and a good mate has gone.

Voorlopige inschrijflijst 2011, met nog veel TBA's

quote:

Red Bull Racing

1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Mark Webber

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

3. Jenson Button
4. Lewis Hamilton

Scuderia Ferrari Marboloro (sic)

5. Fernando Alonso
6. Felipe Massa

Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team

7. Michael Schumacher
8. Nico Rosberg

Renault F1 Team

9. Robert Kubica
10. TBA

AT&T Williams

11. Rubens Barrichello
12. TBA

Force India F1 Team

14. TBA
15. TBA

Sauber F1 Team

16. Kamui Kobayashi
17. Sergio Perez

Scuderia Toro Rosso

18. TBA
19. TBA

Team Lotus

20. Jarno Trulli
21. Heikki Kovalainen

HRT F1 Team

22. TBA
23. TBA

Marussia Virgin Racing

24. TBA
25. TBA

Nou jippie, Maldonado bevestigd bij Williams... Dat gaat in ieder geval veel crashspektakel opleveren!

quote:

Op woensdag 1 december 2010 17:37 schreef Burnie88 het volgende:
Nou jippie, Maldonado bevestigd bij Williams... Dat gaat in ieder geval veel crashspektakel opleveren!

Denk dat het wel mee gaat vallen.

Geruchten over Sutil als testcoureur naar Mercedes die hem gaat verhuren aan FI.

quote:

So, we wondered... What would happen if we could access the personal e.mails of F1's top drivers and found out what they really thought about their colleagues and team-mates. This is almost certainly what they've been writing...

Jenson Button on Lewis
"Sometimes I don't know if he's in the right career. It's like he wants to be the first gangsta rapper F1 World Champion. And his girlfriend's too old for him."

Lewis Hamilton on Jenson
"What is it with the scruffy ginger beard? It's like we turn up for a driver's briefing and I expect him to sell me a copy of the Big Issue. And his girlfriend's way too good for him."

Mark Webber on Seb
"Seb's a good guy to have around the team. You never know when you're gonna need someone to scare the children off. Talk about trick or treat, him and Sebastian Buemi could make a fortune hiring themselves out at Halloween."

Sebastian Vettel on Mark
"We always hear about Mark's famous Australian sense of humour, but after Valencia we nicknamed his chassis the Space Shuttle and he was not happy."

Fernando Alonso on Felipe
"I don't know if he can do anything on his own any more. Rob Smedley tells him to do this and do that in a race. It's embarrassing. If they didn't have that long line of girls on the way to the podium he probably wouldn't find his way there as he needs Rob to hold his hand."

Felipe Massa on Fernando
"I have cousins like Fernando who always need to get their own way. But they are six and seven. There's a joke at Ferrari that no-one will go to McDonalds with Fernando any more in case he gets the wrong toy in the Happy Meal..."

Nico Rosberg on Michael
"He smiles on the outside because that's what he wants the world to see, but he's not smiling on the inside."

Michael Schumacher on Nico
"If I was leading and he was in second place I think he'd sooner we both crash than have a 1-2 with me in 1."

Jake Humphry on David Coulthard
"Getting a prediction out of him that isn't sat on the fence or complementary to Red Bull is like getting him to pay for a round of three drinks."

David Coulthard on Jake
"He can never interview the drivers standing up because he'd look freakily tall."

Ron Dennis on Luca Montezemolo
"He thinks he's somewhere between Silvio Berlusconi and the Pope, dropping in on the Ferrari team and giving them his blessing.

Luca Montezemolo on Ron Dennis
"He is still sucking too many lemons."

quote:

Schumacher targets wins in 2011

Michael Schumacher says he thinks it will be possible to win races in 2011 despite failing to appear on the podium in his disappointing comeback to the sport in 2010.

The seven-time world champion was comprehensively out-qualified and out-raced by young compatriot and team-mate Nico Rosberg this year. But Schumacher thinks that with a year of teething troubles out of the way, the well funded Mercedes outfit will be in a much better position in 2011.

"We are clearly in a better situation now because of the immense support from Mercedes," Schumacher told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "But we cannot presume to think that we will be fighting for the championship. We will make a big leap forward and - if all goes well - win races."

Schumacher added that many of his problems with the car were not experienced by Rosberg and that the issues he encountered were not easily apparent to the public.

"In retrospect, there were things; my floor was burned because of the exhaust being too hot, or the F-duct working in places where it should not. There were many [issues], resulting from the fact that we are in a restructuring phase but we still wanted to go for the title.

"At Spa my F-duct didn't work, but I didn't say anything. At Suzuka it happened again - a problem with my car but not with Nico's. I said to Norbert [Haug] and Ross [Brawn] that it was time for an explanation of the reasons."

Schumacher confirmed that another main cause for his struggles was due to his driving style not suiting the Bridgestone tyre and that in 2011, with Pirelli, he hopes to be more competitive.

"I prefer to speak inside the team, and I am convinced that in 2011 the problems will exist no more. The car was a compromise. With the tyre, it was difficult for me to drive how I wanted to."

F1 bosses vote Alonso the best of 2010