F1 2010. Dates and a bit of nonsense

[Guest]

Good to see Kobayashi got picked up after his super efforts in the Toyota.

Not so sure the Lotus name should be on the Manor car really. They are based in Norfolk, but does that really make it a Lotus? Lotuses are those fantastic 1960s cars that are green and yellow and transformed the designs of the times, or the JPS liveried cars in the 70's and 80's and all fell under the guise of one Colin Chapman.  Ah well, it is sort of good to have the Lotus name in F1 again though.

Well we should start to see the new car launches in the coming weeks - it'll be interesting to find out how good the Cosworth unit is.

And I wonder how Richard Branson is feeling at the moment, new team, proper title sponsor....no Ross Brawn though, might not be winning straight out of the box this year.

about 6 weeks to go till the first race....

[MadBoB]

Good to see Kobayashi got picked up after his super efforts in the Toyota.

Not so sure the Lotus name should be on the Manor car really. They are based in Norfolk, but does that really make it a Lotus? Lotuses are those fantastic 1960s cars that are green and yellow and transformed the designs of the times, or the JPS liveried cars in the 70's and 80's and all fell under the guise of one Colin Chapman.  Ah well, it is sort of good to have the Lotus name in F1 again though.

Well we should start to see the new car launches in the coming weeks - it'll be interesting to find out how good the Cosworth unit is.

And I wonder how Richard Branson is feeling at the moment, new team, proper title sponsor....no Ross Brawn though, might not be winning straight out of the box this year.

about 6 weeks to go till the first race....

[MadBoB]

So who watched the web launch of the new McLaren on Friday then? No I didn't either.
So its coming together now then, Michael is number 3, Nico number 4...errr because Michael likes an odd number....nothing to do with driver status then?
Driver line up is a bit firmer, though I'll save the rest until we have a few more confirmed.

I do wish there wasn't such a ban on testing though, seems a bit nuts that we have new teams looking for new drivers and can't test them in the machinery.....yet Ferrari can run an old car on GP2 tyres and thats ok.......bit dodgy really.

Oh and now the points have been recommended for a tweak as well, still 25 for a win and points down to 10th, but some other bits. Please stop. I've said my bit about this already, nonsense.

Still looking forard to the season though, and they're back at Silverstone on maybe a reconfigured circuit.....have to wait and see.
 

[MadBoB]

Updated the driver line up in the posts above.

USF1 and Campos still look a bit wobbly, especially Campos. The old Toyota team are ready and waiting in the wings even though they have no entry for the season.

Testing has so far looked pretty good for McLaren, Ferrari, BMW and Mercedes......but then again they are all gonna have to run on full tanks when the racing starts. Virgin have a lack of spare parts - now that sounds just like the old days with Simtek and Euro-brun when they didn't even have a decent tyre gauge between them....and this is the pinnacle of motorsport! Not complaining though, we might very well see a few surprises - though its more likely to be established teams going backwards (remember the demise of Lotus and Tyrell) rather than new teams winning races.

4 weeks until the first race - can Schuey really come back and take another title? or will his return faulter like Mansell did at McLaren or Villeneuve (Jacques) at BAR. I'll keep an eye on the last couple of drivers and update when they get announced.

[halfpint]

not long to go now. i reckon it will be a very interesting season thanx mad bob for the updates. much appreciated.

[MadBoB]

So, USF1 look like not having the cash to make it to Bahrain in 3 weeks time. They've asked to miss the first 4 races to save some cash - oh come on guys how is that really gonna help? No testing, no car and no cash. Time to give the place to Stefan GP I think (yes the old Toyota team).
Campos look like they might make it to Bahrain - only because the team has been sold....then again it'll need a name change and agreement with the FIA... so how exacttly does that work then? They have got Bruno Senna as a paying driver and rumour has it that Lopez will ditch USF1 and go (with his cash) to Campos (or whatever its called now). Hmm similar thought springs to mind though, no testing, have a car? and not much cash. The pinnacle of motorsport is not a cheap place to be, and these guys are demonstrating clearly how not to do it.

As for the Jerez testing, it looks likewe can expect the season to start with the expected front runners in place. Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes (yeah its still the Brawn car really), and Red Bull assuming they can sort the gremlins. Force India might well use the Mercedes grunt to power themselves into the mid field, and the rejuvenated Renault team will be biting at the heels too no doubt. Sauber and Williams will make up the rest of the mid field no doubt. Toro Rosso, not sure I'd say best of the rest with Virgin talking a great talk but short on delivery. Lotus will be there somewhere but I really can't see it'll be up the front.

[halfpint]

it will be interesting to see who actually shows up and who eventually shows up. i think it is gonna be a roller coaster ride for many this year.

[MadBoB]

Campos still seem to be making noises about turning up for the first race, so I guess we ought to wish them luck really - no testing, new drivers and they must have a car somewhere lurking about with only 2 weeks to go, not long then.

Catalunya held the last round of winter testing over the past few days and whilst testing times don't necessarily mean very much, they do usually give you an indication of the relative strengths of the new cars. Times and laps completed were as follows:

1  HAMILTON    McLaren      1m20.472s (134)
2  WEBBER      Red Bull     1m20.496s (59)
3  MASSA       Ferrari      1m20.539s (105)
4  SUTIL       Force India  1m20.611s (99)
5  VETTEL      Red Bull     1m20.667s (76)
6  SCHUMACHER  Mercedes     1m20.745s (122)
7  BARRICHELLO Williams     1m20.870s (83)
8  KOBAYASHI   Sauber       1m20.911s (67)
9  BUEMI       Toro Rosso   1m22.135s (87)
10 KUBICA      Renault      1m23.175s (106)
11 KOVALAINEN  Lotus        1m25.251s (65)
12 DI GRASSI   Virgin       1m26.160s (47)

[halfpint]

i can't wait. the racing season don't ome round soon enough after the winter. look forward to your commentation madbob.

[MadBoB]

Here's the official line up with revised car numbers (and a new name for Campos...HRT (I know the H stands for Hispania but surely they could have thought of something better than that)):

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
1  Jenson Button (GB)
2  Lewis Hamilton (GB)

Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team
3  Michael Schumacher (D)
4  Nico Rosberg (D)

Red Bull Racing
5  Sebastian Vettel (D)
6  Mark Webber (AUS)

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
7  Felipe Massa (BR)
8  Fernando Alonso (E)

AT&T Williams
9  Rubens Barrichello (BR)
10  Nico Hulkenberg (D)

Renault F1 Team
11  Robert Kubica (PL)
12  Vitaly Petrov (RUS)

Force India F1 Team
14  Adrian Sutil (D)
15  Vitantonio Liuzzi (I)

Scuderia Toro Rosso
16  Sebastien Buemi (CH)
17  Jaime Alguersuari (E)

Lotus Racing
18  Jarno Trulli (I)
19  Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)

HRT F1 Team
20  Karun Chandhok (IN)
21  Bruno Senna (BR)

BMW Sauber F1 Team
22  Pedro de la Rosa (E)
23  Kamui Kobayashi (J)

Virgin Racing
24  Timo Glock (D)
25  Lucas di Grassi (BR)


Good luck to them all.

[halfpint]

f1 starts with qualifying tomoz. been a long winter.

[fullpint]

gonna have to record the race since we are out on a charity ride in support of Afghan Heroes, could be over 10,000 taking part