Gimme a Primer on *Formula 1"...

[jokerjkny]

formula 1 just looks badass.

cmon, ferrari's are being driven around! ok, i understand they're not necessarily street worthy, but dang it, its still pretty dam cool.

with two weeks(?) to go, wish i could get races here in the US. does "speed channel" offer F1 races? anyone know a good sports bar here in NYC that shows the races?

anyone wanna gimme a quick primer on how things are in F1? i know about that wunderkund, hamilton, and i heard about some standardized box that doesnt help in drivers' aids?

[Cambass]

F1 is ****hot. I'd say get to a GP but unfortunately you don't have one any more. F1 has just gone through a scandelous year with McLaren and Renault caught cheating. McLaren were stripped of all constructors points thus coming last. Their drivers had an interesting year with Alonso eventually appearing to find McLaren not the team he thought it was. Hamilton had a blinder of a season considering he is a rookie. He won two races and was on the podium for almost all others. He was in contention for the title but lost it Brazil.

This year sees the banning of traction control, a move much liked by the fans as it puts more control in the driver. It will be interesting to see if this makes a difference to the racing as some drivers have suggested that we will see more mistakes.

2008 also introduce two new races in Singapore and Valencia in Spain. Singapore's race will be run at night time for the first time ever in F1. Both will be street races. Australia is looking in doubt of a contract renewal as Bernie Ecclestone wants this to also be a night race but Aus organisers aren't willing comply. The event has made a loss recently and doesn't have a good perception in regards to public funding.

In terms of teams, Alonso has moved back to Renault, managing to get out of his McLaren contract. Ferrari seem to have the pace in testing so far but these can change several times in a season. The Midland team (who also used to be Jordan) have been bought and they are now Force India F1. Super Aguri is unfortunately in financial stress and missed most preseason testing. It remains to be seen if they can last the season.

I'll be there for the first race, I'll try and post some pics if can.

[ROON]

Hooray! Australias Grand Prix gets made a night time race because all the poor Europeans don't want to have to get up late at night to watch it, or watch it after the race has finished...

LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES.

Omfg I have been so annoyed about this. I'm SURE Network 10 are going to give up their prime time slot for Forumla One.

[ROON]

Originally Posted by Cambass

Australia is looking in doubt of a contract renewal as Bernie Ecclestone wants this to also be a night race but Aus organisers aren't willing comply. The event has made a loss recently and doesn't have a good perception in regards to public funding.

NSW Premier has said that there is a chance they will be bidding for Sydney to host the Australian GP, if Melb loses it.

[Cambass]

Originally Posted by ROON

NSW Premier has said that there is a chance they will be bidding for Sydney to host the Australian GP, if Melb loses it.

I hope it just stays in Australia, somewhere (bias says back to Adelaide! ). Ron Walker has also said that the threat is just Bernie's way of negotiating.

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by Cambass

F1 is ****hot. I'd say get to a GP but unfortunately you don't have one any more.

Living in NY puts Joker and I very close to the Canadian Grand Prix held in Montreal, which is only about 3 hours from me, and about 6 hours from Joker (that is a lot closer than the Grand Prix held in Indy which is held about 800 miles west of me). I've attended every Canadian Grand Prix for almost the last 20 years.

[SuperDuck]

Formula 1 drivers have to turn left AND right, unlike some "racing". That's all you need to know!

[ROON]

Anyone remember the US GP a few years back when all the Michelin tires blew out because of the track design? LOL. Back in the day when only Ferrari and a few other budget teams used Bridgestone. So more than half of the field DNF.

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by ROON

Anyone remember the US GP a few years back when all the Michelin tires blew out because of the track design? LOL. Back in the day when only Ferrari and a few other budget teams used Bridgestone. So more than half of the field DNF.

Posted for clarity: http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/s...=f1&id=2089760

The biggest problem that season was the rediculous rule that F-1 teams were forced to race on the same set of tires they qualify with, meaning that Michelin couldn't even get safer tires on the cars if they wanted to.

[Gumby4]

Originally Posted by ROON

Anyone remember the US GP a few years back when all the Michelin tires blew out because of the track design? LOL. Back in the day when only Ferrari and a few other budget teams used Bridgestone. So more than half of the field DNF.

I was at that race. And from now on I never want to hear about how misbehaved USA can be. Most of the beer throwing, cursing and other forms of evil came from the Europeans and South Americans.

Where we sat there were six people from the States in our section. Four gentlemen from Japan were sitting next to us. A large group from Germany sat to our left, Brazilians sat to our right and Colombians sat in front of us.

When the race started with six cars. The Germans started throwing stuff. The South Americans started jumping up and down which started the upper deck moving. Even though I did speak any of the languages of the people around me, it was easy to tell what they were screaming was not polite. For the six people from the US and the four from Japan, we thought we were going to die.

Fortunately, Indiana's finest came up in force. They did really do anything but just standing there looking mad was enough to get the crowd to settle down.

That was the last GP I went to. Sad really, I loved going. Especially on Thursday, when you could walk the pits. It was neat to meet so many people from different countries and it seems like one big party from Thursday to Sunday.

[Tony G]

Gumby4, you're close enough to do the same in Montreal. Why not go to that Grand Prix? It is a lot of fun, as the the whole city gets into it with street festivals and such.

[kevteop]

Originally Posted by ROON

Anyone remember the US GP a few years back when all the Michelin tires blew out because of the track design? LOL.

They'd ground the surface to make it smoother and nobody thought to mention it to Michelin. Bridgestone knew all about it because they supply tyres to other series that race there, but Michelin had no idea things had changed, designed the tyre based on the data from previous years, and the tyre sidewall couldn't cope with the extra grip on the banking.

The teams (all of them except Ferrari), the drivers, Michelin and Bernie Ecclestone all offered a bunch of solutions to try to get the race to go ahead, but the FIA and Ferrari would only settle for the Michelin teams taking T13 slowly (which would've been dangerous) and stopping for tyres every 10 laps. Ferrari were the real villians behind that particular embarrassment.

[FL Knifemaker]

First of all, the races come on at all stange hours of the day. Second, all you hear for an hour and a half is something that sounds like a pack of loud bees with some british dude screaming over the top of the bee noise. Third, if one car just barely TOUCHES another, the race is most likely over for both of them. 4th........I think the pit crews are actually robots, not sure. 5th, I cant sit through 3 countries national anthems and grown me crying before the trophy girls come out

[ROON]

Originally Posted by kevteop

Ferrari were the real villians behind that particular embarrassment.

Never liked that team. I remember watching one GP (the year and track escapes me atm) where Barrichello deliberately slowed down when in 1st place to let Schumacher overtake and win. Absolutely disgusting. I always liked Rubens and I felt sorry for him having to be "that other guy". I also remember seeing him in another race slow right down on the final lap (when he was in 1st place) so Schumacher could win.

I found this interesting list on an F1 fan site...

Australia 1996: Eddie Irvine is ordered to allow Schumacher past.
Japan 1997: Irvine is ordered to give up the lead in a move designed to aid Schumacher's championship aspirations.
Belgium 1998: Irvine is ordered to hand 2nd place to Schumacher on lap 1.
France 1999: Irvine is forbidden to overtake Schumacher when it was abundantly clear that he could have done so.
Canada 2000: Barichello is forbidden to overtake Schumacher when it was abundantly clear that he could have done so.
Hungary 2000: Barrichello is ordered to give way to Schumacher following the latter's pitstop.
Austria 2001: Barichello is ordered to hand second place to Schumacher in order to maximise Schumacher's championship points.
Austria 2002: Barichello is ordered to give away victory on the last lap in order to maximise Schumacher's championship points.
the disgracethe Tifosi reaction

There is one team mate Schumacher has competed against whose driving ability is worthy of being called competitive. It is none other than triple world champion Nelson Piquet. So how did Schumacher go against a world champion team mate? Simple, in the 5 races they drove together at Benetton Piquet outscored Schumacher 4.5 points to 4. He is the only team mate to have outscored Schumacher.

I recall seeing a few of them.

[ROON]

HERE!!! This is the race I was talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltbjr...eature=related

There is absolutely no way Shumacher could have taken that lead.
Very obviously handed over to him, and I'm sure it wasn't Barrichello's decision.

Another one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkcCh2iAamc

Barrichello has the inside line, comes out of the corner with a decent gap between him and his teammate. Miraculously, Shumacher, in the exact same car takes the lead on the straight.

[Atoz]

Originally Posted by jokerjkny

formula 1 just looks badass.

cmon, ferrari's are being driven around! ok, i understand they're not necessarily street worthy, but dang it, its still pretty dam cool.

with two weeks(?) to go, wish i could get races here in the US. does "speed channel" offer F1 races? anyone know a good sports bar here in NYC that shows the races?

anyone wanna gimme a quick primer on how things are in F1? i know about that wunderkund, hamilton, and i heard about some standardized box that doesnt help in drivers' aids?

All you need to know about F1: Ferrari good, McLaren bad.

Yes, Speed Channel offers F1 races. The coverage isn't awful.

Originally Posted by Tony G

Living in NY puts Joker and I very close to the Canadian Grand Prix held in Montreal, which is only about 3 hours from me, and about 6 hours from Joker (that is a lot closer than the Grand Prix held in Indy which is held about 800 miles west of me). I've attended every Canadian Grand Prix for almost the last 20 years.

Definitely. The Montreal race is good fun. Been there a few times myself.

Originally Posted by ROON

Anyone remember the US GP a few years back when all the Michelin tires blew out because of the track design? LOL. Back in the day when only Ferrari and a few other budget teams used Bridgestone. So more than half of the field DNF.

Yes, because I was there. 6 cars out of 22 actually took part in the race.

[jokerjkny]

Originally Posted by ROON

HERE!!! This is the race I was talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltbjr...eature=related

There is absolutely no way Shumacher could have taken that lead.
Very obviously handed over to him, and I'm sure it wasn't Barrichello's decision.

Another one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkcCh2iAamc

Barrichello has the inside line, comes out of the corner with a decent gap between him and his teammate. Miraculously, Shumacher, in the exact same car takes the lead on the straight.

dang, that is some nasty booing...

and thx guys!

[jokerjkny]

btw,

how do the teams breakdown? is ferrari the "yankees" of f1? who are the "cubs"?

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by jokerjkny

btw,

how do the teams breakdown? is ferrari the "yankees" of f1? who are the "cubs"?

Minardi were the little minnows, but they finally sold out a few years ago and became Toro Rosso and it's not quite that clear cut now. There have always been a few "character" teams that just kind of motor around at the back most years, but occasionally step up nearer the front for a year or two. JordanGP were my favorite of that bunch, they're called Force India this year.

I can't post in an F1 thread without mentioning going to the US GP a few times at Watkins Glen in the late 60s-early 70s. Google "Watkins Glen US Grand Prix Bog" for some bus-burning biker mama good times.

[Gumby4]

Originally Posted by Tony G

Gumby4, you're close enough to do the same in Montreal. Why not go to that Grand Prix? It is a lot of fun, as the the whole city gets into it with street festivals and such.

I would love to do that but right now I lack the time to go. I sure there is a Canadian GP in my future. Fortunately, my wife would like to go to either the British GP or Spa before that. So when we get the time.......

They'd ground the surface to make it smoother and nobody thought to mention it to Michelin. Bridgestone knew all about it because they supply tyres to other series that race there, but Michelin had no idea things had changed, designed the tyre based on the data from previous years, and the tyre sidewall couldn't cope with the extra grip on the banking.

Michelin would like everyone to believe that but ......... The Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) opens the track up three time a year for all teams and manufactures to test. The IMS produced the letter sent to Michelin informing them of the track resurfacing and the invite to test. Michelin declined to go. This fact was one of the main reasons Michelin refunded the ticket holders.