As a purist I believe F1 should be the ultimate showcase of technology and driver skill and I hate all this dumbing down in thew name of cost and safety and believe teams should spend what they like but that will not be much use if there are 5 teams on the grid so I guess costs will have to come down

 

That sums my view up as well (otherwise it is the A1GP with another name, and that is boring IMHO) as Renault, Toyota & especially Williams are apparently vulnerable.

 

What I like about the sport is how certain car's are better suited to different circuits, (hence this season as a F1 fan you could plot the World Title battle by circuits that favoured Ferrari, to circuits that favoured MClaren accordingly) so that most F1 fans knew if Massa was 4 Points or less behind Hamilton going into the final Grand Prix of the season then Massa not Hamilton would have been favoured to lift the title due to the Brazil GP circuit suiting the Ferrari car.

As a purist I believe F1 should be the ultimate showcase of technology and driver skill and I hate all this dumbing down in thew name of cost and safety and believe teams should spend what they like but that will not be much use if there are 5 teams on the grid so I guess costs will have to come down

 

 

But if the teams do not have the cash, plus who knows what might happen to sponsorship money next year, there will have to be a scaling back of expenditure, just to keep more than 7 teams in the sport. Is there not a rule whereby teams can run a 3rd car if there are so few teams. Might help the drivers of the teams that go bust.

Is there not a rule whereby teams can run a 3rd car if there are so few teams. Might help the drivers of the teams that go bust.

 

Yeah I think there is but then again I can't see teams wanting to run three cars if they can't afford to run two :huh:

 

I think Honda pulling out is a huge shock for the sport, unfortunately the huge changes in the sport are actually havign a negative affect at the moment as all the teams are having to invest huge amounts of money to develop completely new cars at a time when the money coming in is fallign dramatically. For sure the FIA are doing the right things in trying to reduce costs and, although I disagree with the single Cosworth engine, they are comign up with real ideas to help manufacturers and privateers remain in the sport. Most importantly I think the FIA will be listening more cloesly than ever to the manufacturers' ideas about changing the sport as they really can't afford to have any more teams dropping out.

 

At the moment I'm really just awaiting Ferrari to confirm they are going to stick with the sport, Toyota, Mercedes and BMW have all committed themselves but all's quiet on the Italian front :unsure:

Renault are staying in as far as i am aware. They made more money this year than last thanks to the emerging economies. They have suffered in europe, but have no exposure in most of the other markets affected by the CC.

 

From what i can understand from their press site they are in it until they start to make a loss or they do very very badly (Jaguar style) and it affects the brand.

 

I think Toyota are the most likely casualties, as they spend so much and have suffered very badly from the US market collapsing entirely

Honda F1 team in line for rescue package from Mexican billionaire

 

"The saviour has arrived: Carlos Slim, 67 years old, the second richest man in the world," said the newspaper.

 

"The news is not official as all the details have yet to be formalised. But two things are certain - the team has been saved and the drivers will be Jenson Button and rookie Bruno Senna in place of Rubens Barrichello."

 

Honda, believed to have an annual racing budget of around 400 million dollars, announced earlier this month that they were pulling out of Formula One as a result of the global financial meltdown.

 

La Stampa, which did not identify the source of its story, added that Bruno Senna, the nephew of former triple world champion Ayrton Senna, is sponsored by Embratel, part of Slim's Telmex group.

 

Honda first competed in F1 in 1964 and clocked up three Grand Prix wins, including Jenson Button's in Hungary in 2006.

 

Its engines were also been behind dozens of victories by stars such as Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

 

The team finished ninth in the constructors championship this season with 14 points.

 

Veteran driver Barrichello achieved the team's best result with a third-place finish at Silverstone.

 

Honda Motor also supplied engines and other technical support to Formula One team Super Aguri, which called it quits due to financial problems in May.

 

Motorsport in Japan had been particularly hit by the recession with Subaru and Suzuki pulling out of the world rally championship.

 

Source: Sunday Telegraph

RIP F1 :( may it rest in peace

 

 

It was effectively killed today by the most idiotic rule ever bought in in any sport ever :rolleyes: :manson:

 

The F1 WDC is now decided by the number of wins as opposed to the number of points

 

Basically a driver can win 5 races and retire from the other 12 and another driver can win 4 and get 12 2nd places and the driver with the 5 wins is champion :manson:

 

it really is time that Max and Bernie were put in straightjackets and locked in an institution

 

 

I have to agree with you really. I do think putting more emphasis on the win is probably a good thing, which was why I thought changing the points system to a 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 would be good, but having the title decided on most wins is awful. I just hope that the same person would win both ways, although as long as something extreme like you've said never happens it might not be so bad. I could probably take last years being reversed, but anything in excess of I think 10 points is way too far.

RIP F1 :( may it rest in peace

It was effectively killed today by the most idiotic rule ever bought in in any sport ever :rolleyes: :manson:

 

The F1 WDC is now decided by the number of wins as opposed to the number of points

 

Basically a driver can win 5 races and retire from the other 12 and another driver can win 4 and get 12 2nd places and the driver with the 5 wins is champion :manson:

 

it really is time that Max and Bernie were put in straightjackets and locked in an institution

 

Indeed,

 

But the way the dog of a McLaren MP4-24 is going in pre season testing it is the only way Lewis Hamilton is going to stand a chance of retaining his title. Because unless they are hiding led weights on the car in testing at Barcelona & Jerez they are not going to score many points let alone race victories in the first half of the season until they can sort the chassis out.

 

I think it might be time to start a 2009 F1 Thread.

Urgh.

 

Most wins.

 

It won't ruin the show but it'll ruin the championship element.

 

 

 

How will the Constructors be decided??

There's a petition online against this new points system, it seems to be gathering momentum if anyone is interested in voicing their opinions:

 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/cancel-th...ampionship-2009

 

The Constructor's will still be based on points alone as will all other positions in the driver's championship bar first place.

 

I don't understand why Mosely, who said in reply to Bernie's suggestion of this in December, that he would only bring in a new points system if it had the backing of the public. I'm yet to see a single person, with the exception of Ecclestone, that thinks this is a good idea!

 

With regards to McLaren, Kovie set a quick lap today about 0.5 secs off of Jenson's pace today whilst doing a qualifying practise. So, although it's obviously not going to be winning anytime soon, the Macca is showing signs of improvement.

oh goody Hamilton has a $h!te car.

 

I'll have to get my mum to record the races so i see what the comentators say when he's getting pure humped :smoke:

 

i expect they start arse rapping Jensen again :rolleyes:

oh goody Hamilton has a $h!te car.

 

I'll have to get my mum to record the races so i see what the comentators say when he's getting pure humped :smoke:

 

i expect they start arse rapping Jensen again :rolleyes:

 

Atm the Beeb are far too obsessed with the fact that their boy Hammy hasn't got a good car they are yet to realise there is another British driver who is actually doing quite well -_-

Urgh, another year of hamilton arse rapping.

 

Thank god i can watch one race this season without any bias.

 

 

Next weekend is going to be amazing, aparently the best view point at albert park is in general admission :w00t:

I always wondered how these F1 guys get paid SO much money. Is the sport THAT big in Europe where they can afford to give these guys that much?