Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Somebody had to do it....



Without Kimi, F1 will be boring!

Let's all hope he signs with McLaren and is on the grid in 2010.....




/jarmo

Without Kimi F1 will be much quieter :hihi:

Button has been sighted at the McLaren factory.. but that's probably just theatrics to push Brawn over coming up with more money, with McLaren to push Kimi and his management over for their offer which means lower money for Kimi.

Trulli signed at Lotus, which is a shame cause as far as I'm concerned he's one of the drivers that needs to retire (like Fisi). Crazy fool bringing over his pictures in the paddock as evidence that 'his front wing was before Sutil's front wing'  ::)

Here's a sneak preview of the new teams' cars:

Manor F1 2010:
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/400190/manor-grand-prix-sneak-preview.html

USF1 2010:
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/397382/usf1-2010-car-design-revealed.html

Lola 2010 of 2011 zoals ze nu zeggen:
http://originalgaijin.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/30.jpg

Lotus:
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/imageBank/4/4012085298_ab3e9db34f.jpg

Damn, it's a whole 4 months till the first race at Bahrain on 14th March.

Gonna be pretty exciting with many new cars/teams/colours and driver exchanges  8)

Yeah. Not so sure about the refuelling bit though. Anyone here used to watch F1 pre 1994?

more gossip


story
http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5697376,00.html

Very interesting. So Button will mostly be headed to McLaren and Rosberg and Heidfeld will drive for Brawn.
Mercedes will take over Brawn and sell their stake in McLaren.

Wonder what's going to happen to Kimi...

Yup, it's official:

Mercedes take ownership of Brawn (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8362295.stm)

German car giant Mercedes has bought the Brawn Formula 1 team in a move that is likely to see Jenson Button join McLaren as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate.

Mercedes will buy a controlling interest in Brawn, believed to be 75%, but will continue has McLaren's engine partner until at least 2015.

BBC Sport understands Brawn will be rebranded as an official Mercedes, all-German F1 team.

Nico Rosberg will be their lead driver, with Nick Heidfeld his likely partner.

More to follow.

I think that perhaps nationality is taken a bit too seriously in F1.

Fisichella opting out of a competitive Force India car and joining Ferrari because they are an Italian constructor and sucking balls for the remaining season.
Mercedes passing over a World Championship winning Button and Kimi and opting for only German drivers.
McLaren keen to have an all British team.

Maybe F1 will be the new A1 GP. :hihi:

not all that crazy if you think about it.
if (when) all their plans fail, they can then go and beg their respective governments for money to bail them out and help them compete.

their chances are so much better to get help if they're "pure" in their appearance.

Mercedes take ownership of Brawn (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8362295.stm)

Brawn will be taken over by Mercedes and be an all-German team

German car giant Mercedes has bought the Brawn Formula 1 team in a move that is likely to see Jenson Button join McLaren as Lewis Hamilton's team-mate.

Mercedes will buy a controlling interest in Brawn, believed to be 75% but is expected to continue as McLaren's engine supplier.

Brawn, who won both world titles in their debut season in 2009, will be rebranded as the Mercedes GP team.

Nico Rosberg will be their lead driver, with Nick Heidfeld his likely partner.

Neither driver has yet been confirmed, but Rosberg, who drove for Williams in 2009 is widely known throughout F1 to have already signed for Brawn.

Button, who won the drivers' title this year, has been trying to secure a pay-rise from his £3.5m salary but it seems Mercedes is not interested in keeping him on.

He and his manager Richard Goddard visited McLaren on Friday and Button is now expected to join McLaren for a salary around double what Brawn were offering.

Button's decision is understood not to be solely about money - sources say he considers McLaren might have a more competitive car than Brawn in 2010.

Mercedes Sports boss Norbert Haug said on Sunday that he was trying to secure a drive for Heidfeld, a former Mercedes protege who has driven for BMW since 2006.

"We are speaking with Nick Heidfeld as well," Haug told DPA.

"Mercedes-Benz supports the idea of signing an experienced and capable German driver. There is however no reason to finalise the driver situation too hastily."

It is believed Ross Brawn will stay on as team principal.

More to follow.

---

Guess you were right. Rosberg was already signed with Brawn.

yeah, it was all a bit too strangely obvious.

interesting though, what no one bothered to pick up on, was that Nico is on a 8.5m a year retainer....and they signed him without problems, but when Button asked for 8m....they complained.

so after all, it wasn't all about the money.

Unfortunately, Kimi looks increasingly likely to be without a ride for next year.
I wonder if he'll sit out or move to WRC. If he does move, I hope he comes back. :P

more details on this.
i wonder what they mean by "peaceful solution"


I have to say, they managed to cover this up pretty well. while we were all focusing on Kimi and Jenson, the real power players behind the scenes were using it as a smokescreen to get their work done in peace and quiet.

With hindsight, Jenson should have perhaps taken Ross' offer....

Can't help but think about Kimi.
If he isn't there next year, it will be a damn shame.

McLaren weren't too pleased when the rumours initially started that Mercedes will buy Brawn. After all, Mercedes had a 40% stake in McLaren
(This will be bought back by McLaren for a rumoured ?300m by 2011). Mercedes also wasn't too happy about McLaren's upcoming road supercar,
the MP4-12C, which they see as competition. But now they seem to have worked out an agreement whereby Mercedes will supply free engines
and support till 2015 (In return for the 40% stake dilution).


Why should he settle for less? He's the current champion and McLaren are ready to offer him what he wants.
A far cry from the situation he was in at the start of the 2009 season.


What would be amusing is if McLaren by some quirk signed Kimi leaving Button without a good car.
Will the World Champion have to sit out? :o

good point, he is better off either way.

besides, Mclaren will have a good package for next year, they are a year ahead of Brawn with regards to engine integration, so he'll be able to deliver if he doesn't get swallowed by Hamilton's way of working...it is Lewis' team after all...

it just feels weird, i don't remember last time a world champion was treated with as little respect as Jenson has this year...

either way.
its going to be a good season.

Time to see if Brawn really are what they say they are or not....Nico should do well if the hardware is good, and I'm looking forward to that...this deal also explains the lack of sponsorship on the Brawn car all year round...they were too busy chasing the Merc deal to focus on commercial sponsorships for the next year.

its actually quite exciting.

I think there is a general (unsaid) feeling that Button won the Championship because the other cars were uncompetitive at the
start of the season etc. etc. Perhaps that accounts for the lukewarm response. You'd have thought that everyone would be
scrambling to sign him by now. There's also the fact that most of the top teams with the exception of McLaren already have top
drivers signed.

As to how Jenson gets along with Lewis, time will tell. I hope it's not a repeat of the Hamilton-Alonso fiasco ... in reverse.


Brawn was pretty average in the second half of the season, once the rest of the pack had caught up in terms of car performance. You
can never write off Ross Brawn though. Virgin will take up a 20% stake in Manor F1, intending to buy them out to later to create a
Virgin F1 team, so the deal with Brawn might be over.

If Kimi doesn't drive in F1 in 2010, it just shows everybody how rotten this sport really is.

First he's replaced because a sponsor shows up with a pile of money and now he's gonna lose a seat because his passport is Finnish?



I thought F1 was about driving a car as fast as you could and winning races...





/jarmo

not in the recession its not.  ;D

the rich need to stay rich in these times, no matter what.

nice guys do "finnish" last unfortunatelly.

If Kimi is out and with Kovalainen already out, I don't think there will be any Finns racing in F1 next year.
Unless one of the new teams sign somebody on...

well, who knows.
Merc know how good Kimi is, and they were the first to push McLaren his way with unofficial comments.
I think this saga is far from over.
Latest comments...from Merc guys this time





Kimi into the new Merc team
Jenson into the old Merc team
Fernando into Ferrari

bring on 2010!

There could be a fight for Kimi. Mercedes are not interested in Button. McLaren are certainly interested in Kimi as well since he's worked with them before.
Jenson will be feeling a bit like chopped liver now...

Kimi has stated that McLaren is his only option for 2010.




/jarmo

I guess it's down to McLaren then. Watch the news waves. I hope they sign Kimi.
Kimi and Lewis. :drool:.

Press release of the new McLaren-Mercedes deal here (http://www.mclaren.com/latestnews/mclaren-news.php?article=380).

Appearantly McLaren made Kimi a deal but it was rejected by his management cause they wanted more money. So it's not like Kimi couldn't help it at all if he doesn't end up with a seat for next year.

Actually, it was reported that Kimi is actually financially better off without a seat then with a seat how strange that may sound:


Ah well.. there's always rally for him.

But ofcourse it would be a waste, I mean I'd rather see a Kimi then a Heidfeld in F1, who is now likely to race with Rosberg at Mercedes, with Button going to McLaren.

Wow, that's a good deal. But I doubt he wants to sit out. People forget racing drivers very easily.

somehow, I don't think it's up to him anymore. The way it's looking, it's the power players behind the scenes who will make the decision. I expect Kimi to be presented an offer from Brawn (around 8m-jenson money)...and an offer from McLaren for half that....

Then it will be his decision which matters...but not before...
I truly hope he puts his pride aside and takes either of the two.
It will be very dull without him next year.

signed:

Well, it was expected. An all British McLaren for 2010. Too bad, Kimi is out.
At least a McLaren car will sport the number one next season. : ok:

not yet.
MercGP are still to announce their drivers....

I'm not sure he'll opt for that. Mercedes have already stated that they want Rosberg as their primary driver.
Think Kimi will opt for second best? We'll have to see.

they never said primary.
they said they want nico, but not to be exclusively nr.1...

they need another driver.
looking at what's available out there, and the options on the table, Kimi is their only decent bet, if they wish to win some races next year. Nico is good, but he's not an experienced winner....he'll get a few, but he needs a team mate he can measure up against. Nick is not that.

Kimi is off to Merc.
its his only option right now.

It's not just that. There's also the problem of cost. If Brawn were adamant they weren't going to pay Jenson what he wanted,
I don't think they'll make the gaffe of hiring Kimi at a higher salary, which would be an obvious snub to Button. Kimi won't take
such a drastic pay cut either. Hey, but this is F1. Anything can happen.

well, Kimi and his manager would have clearly seen what is happening money-wise in F1 right now, and if they wish to have their man race, would have advised him to take a slight knock on his demands, as the potential seat is a good one.

They won't pay him what he wants, but they will give him more than what they were offering to Jenson, as Kimi is worth much more.

Glock to lead new Manor F1 team (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8363770.stm)

The new Manor Grand Prix team have signed the German Timo Glock as their lead driver for their debut season in Formula 1 in 2010.

Glock, 27, has raced for Toyota for the last two seasons but was on the market after the Japanese company pulled out of F1 at the end of the season.

Glock has agreed to a two-year deal, with the option of another season.

He missed the last three races of the 2009 season following a crash during qualifying for the Japan Grand Prix.

Manor technical director Nick Wirth said he was delighted that Glock had chosen to sign for the team.

"It has always been my recommendation that we have at least one driver with experience of the 2009 cars to help our development programme," he said.

"But to get a driver that has not only achieved podium finishes in 2009 but has such proven talent and the potential to take us forward for many years is very exciting.

"The fact that he has come and seen all aspects of the project before making his decision speaks volumes about what we have achieved so far and we just can't wait to get Timo into the new car once track testing begins next year."

Glock, who revealed that he had several options for the 2010 season, added: "Every driver has the same overall objective - to win the world championship one day - but the way I want to succeed is to be part of the process of building a team and to play a key role in developing the car.

"This is why the opportunity with Manor is so exciting for me. The team may be small and new but it has big ambitions and a very impressive car and development programme.

"I am confident that I can play a big role in terms of my technical input and that's a fantastic opportunity for me and I can't wait to start testing the new car early next year."

Kimi's people are negotiating with Citroen about a possible jump to rally....


It would be truly sad to see Kimi leave F1 while several less talented drivers are still there.




/jarmo

Here's a nice column about it

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/11/the-problem-for-kimi-raikkonen/?utm_campaign=UA-7628173-1&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

Ford are also keen to give him a seat. So he's quite well catered for in WRC.

No Kimi in F1 in 2010.

Sad day for F1.....






/jarmo

Damn. I'm just mystified at the way it's gone for Kimi. From a three year contract with Ferrari for ?34m a year to completely out of F1.
There is some speculation that he could be back in 2011 in a Red Bull Racing car since Mark Webber's contract ends after 2010.
Unfortunately, if (rather when) McLaren sign Button, both Ferrari and McLaren are booked till 2012.

that is terrible.
not happy with this at all.

this sport needs some legendary names in it to survive, and Alonso and Kimi didn't have enough time post Schumacher to build up an era of their own....

also, on a side note, the current world champion is going to be paid 6m next year, which is half of what the ex world champion is earning....12m....which again, is half of what the ex-ex world champion is getting.... :hihi:

and then another world champion doesn't have a drive for next year.... :hihi:

this sport has really managed to screw itself up properly over the last few years.

The thing with remuneration is that teams are looking to cut budgets after the recession. Both Lewis and Kimi signed
their deals before the recession set in. It will be difficult for drivers who are signing contracts now to get the same
level of pay .. whoever they may be...

Raikkonen rejects F1 for rallying (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8365967.stm)

Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen will not be racing in Formula 1 next year after failing to find a drive.

The 30-year-old Finn had been trying to do a deal with McLaren but they would not offer him the salary he wanted, his manager David Robertson told BBC Sport.

"They couldn't afford him," Roberston said. "It wasn't in his interests to race for what they were offering so he's going to go rallying instead."

Robertson said he believed McLaren had already signed Jenson Button.

Raikkonen is trying to find a drive in the world rally championship, Roberston said, although nothing had yet been sorted out.

He made his world rally debut on his home Rally Finland last August, setting competitive times before crashing out.

"He wants to be back in F1 in 2011 but with all the money he has earned he doesn't want to go in a medium-type team for money," Robertson said.
   
"The same criteria would apply as this year - he'd only go where he feels he has a chance of the world championship."

Asked whether Button's appearance on the market had wrecked Raikkonen's hopes at McLaren, Roberston said: "If they hadn't gone for Jenson, they'd have gone for someone else."

Raikkonen, who won the world title for Ferrari in 2007, was forced out of Ferrari at the end of this season to make way for Fernando Alonso, despite already having a year left on his contract.

Raikkonen is being paid a sum believed to be in the region of 20m Euro not to race for Ferrari in 2010, but still wanted to be paid what he felt was a fair sum to drive for another team.

Robertson would not confirm the Ferrari payment, describing his arrangements with Ferrari as "confidential".

Although he won the Belgian Grand Prix, Raikkonen's final season with Ferrari was a disappointment, with car that was never the fastest in the field.

He said: "Kimi wanted a winning car, only McLaren could supply that and he only had them in his sights. He didn't want another year like this one.

"But they had their issues with Mercedes, Santander and the FIA and from a financial point of view they are not the powerhouse they were. They couldn't afford him."

Mercedes announced on Tuesday that they were selling back their 40% shareholding in McLaren and buying the Brawn team instead.

Spanish bank Santander will sponsor Ferrari next year, although they will still retain a smaller presence with McLaren.

And governing body the FIA in 2007 fined McLaren $100m (then ?49m) after they were found guilty of possessing confidential Ferrari technical information.

Asked how Raikkonen felt about the temporary end of an F1 career that started in 2001 and in which he won 18 grands prix, Robertson said: "He's one of those guys who moves on quickly - he just said: 'Now we concentrate on rallying.'"

A McLaren spokesman refused to comment on Robertson's remarks.

This reminds me of Mika H?kkinen's "year off"... We haven't seen him in F1 since.

I don't know how keen a team like Red Bull would be to sign Kimi after a year of not racing at the top level.




/jarmo

So...Raikkonen is out. The tour of GN'R in 2010 it's a good thing, a 2010 season without Raikkonen and no GN'R would make Jarmo miserable :hihi: .

In these days, F1 sucks. One of the things in my opinion is the lack of loyalty: Do you imagine Schumacher signing a contract with McLaren? Do you imagine Hakkinen signing with Ferrari? No.

Now there's a lot of mercenaries around there...

That is a good point. It depends on how well WRC goes for Kimi. If he's successful there and likes the team he's in, I don't think he'll drop all that and come back to F1, just for the sake of coming back.
Especially since ... no Ferrari and no McLaren seat.

i think he may be done with F1...this lack of confidence in his abilities and status probably disappointed him quite a lot...his and Hakkinen's situation is different...Mika chose to sit a year out amongst a ton of offers on the table....Kimi doesn't really have any offers on the table...barring the low salary one from Mclaren...

Meanwhile...

Button joins Hamilton at McLaren (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8363892.stm)

Jenson Button has signed to drive alongside Lewis Hamilton in an all-English line-up at McLaren next season.

The world champion's move was announced on Wednesday following news that former world champion Kimi Raikkonen will not race in F1 next year.

Button described leaving the Brawn team for whom he won the title as a "difficult decision", but added: "life is about challenges.

"Most important of all, it's about challenging yourself."

Button is facing as his team-mate a man many regard as the fastest driver in F1 and the move leaves McLaren with one of the most exciting driver line-ups in F1 and Button facing arguably the toughest challenge of his career.

But Button said: "Although I won the World Championship with Brawn GP last year, and I'll never forget that, I was always adamant that I wanted to continue to set myself fresh challenges.

"That's why I've decided to join Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. You can't help but be affected by this team's phenomenal history.

"McLaren is one of the greats of world sport, and its achievements and list of past champions read like a Who's Who of Formula 1 - Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and of course my new team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

"I've followed the McLaren team ever since I was a small boy, and it feels unbelievable to finally be a part of it.

"When I visited the McLaren Technology Centre earlier this month, it wasn't simply the technical resources and the incredible standards of excellence that impressed me.

"No, I was equally struck by the ambition, the motivation and the winning spirit that flow through everybody there. And then there's the team's epic history: put it this way, the trophy cabinets seem to stretch for miles.

"From a personal point of view, it's also a great pleasure to be joining a fellow British world champion.

"Lewis has achieved an incredible level of success in a very short period of time, and he's a wonderfully gifted driver who has earned the respect of every Formula 1 driver.

"I'm sure there's plenty that we can learn from each other, and I'm really looking forward to using our combined knowledge to push the team forward."

Button paid tribute to Brawn, whose participation in F1 last year was only confirmed with a month to go before the start of the season following Honda's decision to quit F1.

"I want to say that the 2009 season will always have a special place in my memory, and I'm absolutely sure that everybody at Brawn GP who worked so hard to achieve our world championship successes feels exactly the same way about it," he said. Button's switch means McLaren will be fielding the last two world champions in the same team, Hamilton having won the drivers' title in 2008.
   
Hamilton, who wished his former team-mate Heikki Kovalainen the best for the future, said: "It's fantastic news that Jenson has decided to join McLaren - and I'm looking forward to working with him and our engineers to make sure we kick off the 2010 season with a car that's competitive enough to win the world championship

"I already know Jenson, and we get on very well together.

"We both really want our team to succeed. Although we'll be pushing each other hard, I'm sure we'll very quickly establish a great working relationship.

"He's an exceptional driver: very controlled and very smooth, and he has a real depth of knowledge and experience. I think we'll complement each other very well, and our collaboration will make the team stronger as a result. I believe we can pull together to make McLaren the best team on the grid."

Button's former team Brawn, who have been taken over by Mercedes, made Button an offer, but the 29-year-old did not consider it acceptable.

His preference for McLaren is not solely to do with money, according to sources. He also believes it is the best option for his career.
   
After a poor start to the 2009 season, McLaren came back strongly in the second half of the year, while Brawn, after dominating the first third of the season, slipped back in competitiveness as the year went on.

Brawn emerged from the ashes of the former Honda team, after the Japanese company pulled out of F1 last winter.

Button took a pay cut last winter to help secure the team's future and they went on to win the world championship together in Brawn's debut season.

Now renamed Mercedes Grand Prix, the team have already signed the German Nico Rosberg as one of their drivers.

His fellow German Nick Heidfeld is the favourite for the second seat.

That's true. I meant more in the sense that both said it's a year off...


I think his return to F1 is unlikely. Obviously he's not going back to Ferrari or McLaren.

So unless Red Bull or Mercedes (depending on if Ross is interested in Kimi in 2011) prove out to be championship contenders in 2010, I don't see Kimi being interested in returning.




/jarmo

it is a sad day for motorsport.

Not really, Kimi's still in WRC. He didn't die. :)

he belongs in F1....now i have no one to root for next year, I've been a Kimi supporter for years...

now i have to find someone new.

Yes, I agree it's a sad day for F1. I watch WRC so I'll still be seeing him around. Next season looks very much like a Ferrari vs. McLaren affair.

Kimi's gone, but when the lights go out in Melbourne the people won't be thinking about him.. it'll be the same with Schumi, no one really missed him as much as people claimed and expected he would be missed, other drivers and/or teams will take over in 2010. People will have the McLarens, Ferrari's and Red Bull's fighting, with perhaps Brawn aswell.

Anyways, as far as I'm concerned it's not Formula 1's fault itself for not having Kimi in F1 next year. Cause he wanted a huge amount of money, which is unreleastic in times like these, not to mention the fact he only concentrated on McLaren. Many teams are struggling financially, you can't expect a team to pay a huge amount of money. Button might be overshadowed by Lewis in terms of speed next year (we'll see), but he is very consistent and makes very few mistakes. Which McLaren lacked in their 2nd driver this year. Also with Button signing for 3 years they have stability, something which I think would not necessarily be the case with Kimi as he talked before about driving rally.

I don't think we'll ever get to see Kimi return though.. I think he'll like rally racing alot and doesn't want to return. I remember Mika Hakkinen saying a few years after he quit saying he regretted taking the sabbatical and quitting.

The thing with Kimi is, he doesn't need to drive in F1 that badly. He's already worth millions and if F1 teams don't pay what he wants or don't have a good
car, he doesn't have to settle for that. He likes rallying (I think all Finns do for some reason) and he'll get ?10m from Ferrari anyway, plus whatever the WRC
teams are offering him.

This year he's still the second highest paid athlete in sports. He can come back to F1 if he wants to. The question is, will he want to.

Difference is that Schumacher had nothing to prove.

I feel Kimi does.

And everybody who bitched about Kimi is this, Kimi is that etc. Shit that had nothing to do with the racing, must be happy now. Now you'll get your F1. The kind of field where every racer is cut from the same mould.

They'll smile for the cameras and say a lot of things that they all have repeated umpteen times.



I don't know the details of what he asked for regarding his salary.

Do you think he'd be worth less than what their current driver makes?

Obviously Button thinks he deserves less pay than Hamilton for whatever reason...




/jarmo

It's because he had no choice. It's either McLaren or settle for what Brawn was offering. Although I think he should have
stayed at Brawn. At McLaren he'll have to play second fiddle to Hamilton.

Maybe Brawn Mercedes didn't want him. He's not German after all.

So he had only one choice....




/jarmo

apparently, the Brawn offer was better.

sounds like sour grapes to me, to be honest.
its just PR, trying to fix a situation which looks bad for them.

although Button is notorious for his dodgy negotiation tactics...(Williams comes to mind???)...i think they could have still shown him a bit more respect, especially after all he's been through to help that team get where they are today.

i think its their disloyalty which drove him away.

Yeah, it just looks like PR. Jenson does have a history of breaking contracts though. The McLaren visit was just last week. But Brawn started negotiations with him even before the Abu Dhabi GP. I think he was fed up with the fact that he had to negotiate so hard with Brawn even after winning the championship. There's also the temptation of moving to McLaren and the fact that their car might be better next year. Maybe it wasn't about the money after all.

his management team should have advised him better, I think....if he wants to have a chance at winning another championship again, then he should have stayed with the mechanics and engineers that knew him and his preferences....he kind of has to start from scratch now....but maybe that's a good thing, he has basically been with one team only for the last 6-7 years....and its time for a change...

plus McLaren want to be the powerhouse they were in the Senna/Prost days...have two talents going at it on the track...so this is not a bad start for them...

it should provide for some decent eye candy from the pitlane...with Jenson's girl and Hamilton's girl side by side, in the same shot...

i approve.... : ok:

There are rumours that Kimi is in talks with Mercedes:

Having announced earlier in the week that his client would be taking a sabbatical, Steve Robertson, the Finn's long-time manager, has hinted at a u-turn by acknowledging that "you could never say 100 per cent."

Pressed on the possibility of Raikkonen joining Mercedes in an interview with Autosport, Robertson confirmed: "This is Formula 1. If they can offer, or convince us, that they can provide Kimi an opportunity that Kimi is happy with, and that we are happy with, and he feels he can win races and the championship then never say never. There is always a possibility."

That will be some swap for former partners McLaren and Mercedes. Kimi and Jenson.

yup, i thought as much.
Norbert Haug dropped way too many hints for this to just be a rumor...

if the second Merc seat is available, its Kimi vs Heidfeld.....
its a no brainer....if the previous suspicion of a potential 12m is on the table for him....it would be really stupid for Kimi to sit the season out...
they will give him a good car...and they will give him good money too...

Ross hasn't worked with him yet, and there is no better way to stick it up to Ferrari than to make Kimi a regular winner...both ex Ferrari employees...

Kimi MUST instruct his managers to go for it.

Jose Mar?a L?pez. Keep that name in mind.

Yeah the new USF1 driver, never heard of him before.. has he showed some good things?

He have skills. But we'll have to wait to see.


And let's see if he gets a good car.

Rosberg confirmed for Mercedes. It seems they are trying to get Schumacher for the second car. That will be unbelievable if it happens, but I doubt it.

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/pressreleases/f1releases/2009/Pages/f1_2010_entry_list.aspx


1 Jenson BUTTON (GB) VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES McLAREN MERCEDES
2 Lewis HAMILTON (GB) VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES McLAREN MERCEDES

3 Nico ROSBERG (D) BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM BRAWN MERCEDES
4 TBA BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM BRAWN MERCEDES

5 Sebastian VETTEL (D) RED BULL RACING RED BULL RENAULT
6 Mark WEBBER (AUS) RED BULL RACING RED BULL RENAULT

7 Felipe MASSA (BR) SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO FERRARI
8 Fernando ALONSO (E) SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO FERRARI

9 Rubens BARRICHELLO (BR) AT&T WILLIAMS WILLIAMS COSWORTH
10 Nico HULKENBERG (D) AT&T WILLIAMS WILLIAMS COSWORTH

11 Robert KUBICA (PL) RENAULT F1 TEAM RENAULT
12 TBA RENAULT F1 TEAM RENAULT

14 Adrian SUTIL (D) FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM FORCE INDIA MERCEDES
15 Vitantonio LIUZZI (I) FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM FORCE INDIA MERCEDES

16 Sebastien BUEMI (CH) SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO STR FERRARI
17 TBA SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO STR FERRARI

18 TBA LOTUS F1 RACING LOTUS COSWORTH
19 TBA LOTUS F1 RACING LOTUS COSWORTH

20 TBA CAMPOS META 1 CAMPOS DALLARA
21 Bruno SENNA (BR) CAMPOS META 1 CAMPOS DALLARA

22 TBA US F1 TEAM US F1 COSWORTH
23 TBA US F1 TEAM US F1 COSWORTH

24 Timo GLOCK (D) VIRGIN RACING VIRGIN COSWORTH
25 TBA VIRGIN RACING VIRGIN COSWORTH

*  This team has indicated its intention to change its team name to Mercedes Grand Prix prior to the start of the 2010 season.

-  Toyota Motorsport GmbH remains formally bound by the Concorde Agreement to put forward a team for participation, though it has indicated that it will not be in a position to do so. An announcement will be made regarding this entry in due course.

Toyota has given it's entry back to FIA, who gave it officially to Sauber.. good news  8)

Now we'll have 26 cars on the grid.. Renault will change to Prodrive though, backed by Renault engines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Formula_One_season

No Kimi in F1 in 2010.

So sad for all true F1 fans who appreciate a real racer and not somebody who's all talk....




/jarmo

All said and done, it's his fault. He should have taken the seat at McLaren. Kimi enjoys WRC so it's not a big deal for him, but his care-free attitude is one day going to bite him in the back. There's a lot of fresh, cheaper talent now in F1, as seen at the Jerez testing session and he'll only have himself to blame if he can't find a seat in F1 in 2011. It is sad to see one of the real three racers leave.

I hope he can drive for Red Bull with Vettel in 2011 and Adrian Newey designing a car in which Kimi wins his second championship!


Apparently Domenicali had said something along the lines of Kimi not being like Schumacher in developing the car and motivating the team....

What does that say about poor Massa then?  :hihi:

Massa has been there for years so it's just up to Kimi to "motivate" the team? It seems like Massa wasn't able to do so either because they "need" Alonso...

Alonso who couldn't "motivate" a team or "develop" a car built around him.
 

It's all just bullshit!

Then again, nobody's expecting Ferrari to tell the truth.




/jarmo

Raikkonen departs F1 for World Rally Championship in 2010

London, England (Sports Network) - Kimi Raikkonen will not race in Formula One next season after he confirmed on Friday that he will compete in the 2010 World Rally Championship with Citroen's Red Bull-backed junior team.

Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 world champion, has signed a one-year contract with Citroen. He will compete in 12 of 13 WRC events next year. The team will not run in the New Zealand race.

The 30-year-old driver made his WRC debut in his home country of Finland earlier this year. He will team up with compatriot Kaj Lindstrom, who previously partnered with multiple WRC champion Tommi Makinen.

"I always wanted to compete in rally, especially in the World Rally Championship, at some point in my career," Raikkonen said. "Thanks to Red Bull, I have the opportunity to drive the best car in the series with the Citroen C4.

"This is a new but very exciting challenge. For the moment, we have a one-year contract, and we will see how it goes for the future. I am really looking forward to testing the car and taking the start of the first rally."

Raikkonen drove for Ferrari in F1 the past three seasons. Fernando Alonso will take over his seat with the Italian team next year.

Silverstone signs 17-year deal for British Grand Prix (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8397777.stm)

Silverstone has agreed a 17-year deal to host the British Grand Prix from 2010, ensuring the race is not axed.

The Northamptonshire circuit stepped in to stage the event, which next year takes place on 11 July, after Donington Park was stripped of the rights.

"This is tremendous news," said 1996 Formula 1 champion Damon Hill, who is president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, which owns Silverstone.

Under the deal, Silverstone, which held this year's race, will be redeveloped.

The modernisation of the facilities at Silverstone, which first staged the British Grand Prix in 1948, will focus on rebuilding the pits and paddock - with work set to start as soon as possible after Christmas.

And the news ensures the oldest race on the F1 calendar retains its place.

Hill added: "It's not easy to enter into an agreement of this magnitude. It's a big commitment.

"But the BRDC felt we wanted this relationship to continue and we were prepared to back the negotiating team, with the level of risk satisfactory for the deal to go ahead."

F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone welcomed the deal and he stated: "This will ensure the British Grand Prix is included on the Formula 1 calendar for many years to come, which is something I've always wanted to happen.

"The team at Silverstone already know how to organise a good event and now everyone can look forward to next summer at Silverstone."

The 2010 race calendar will be officially released on Wednesday when the Silverstone showpiece will be confirmed for Sunday 11 July - the same day as the 2010 World Cup final.

Talks had been ongoing between Formula 1 management and Silverstone since Donington Park failed to show it had the necessary ?135m funding.

The main delay in establishing a deal appears to have been the length of the contract and the inclusion of a 7% annual escalation fee.

Silverstone admitted it needed to improve its ageing facilities but insisted it needed the security of a longer-term contract to justify and help raise the finances needed to upgrade.

The contract on the table was believed to demand a ?12m fee for 2010, with an increase of 7% per year after that.

However it is now understood that the increase has been pegged at 5%.

There is also a clause in the contract that allows either side to end the contract after 10 years.

BBC F1 commentator Martin Brundle commented: "It's brilliant news. I always assumed it would happen in the end because everyone wanted the same thing. The new circuits are exciting and interesting but they always had to balance up with the historic circuits, like Silverstone."

Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips commented: "We've always had five-year deals and never been able to get the investment we needed to redevelop.

"But 17 years gives us the ability to invest and move forward.

"We've always had the belief the British Grand Prix was an important cornerstone of Formula One but, with Bernie, you're never quite sure. At the end of the day, though, you have to have a British Grand Prix."

Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe was quick to welcome the announcement and said: "The news the British Grand Prix is to stay at the iconic Northamptonshire track will be welcomed by millions of fans - not just in this country but across the world."

Silverstone is also set to stage the British MotoGP in 2010 and the venue is planning to use that modified track layout for the grand prix if they can get FIA approval. If not, they will stick with the old circuit.

Massa has been Ferrari's teacher pet since he started there.. this year with his crash, guess they felt obligated to keep him on board. But I expect next year that Alonso will show him how it's done and he'll loose popularity within the team. Imo Massa is fast when everything goes right and he starts from pole, when he does he can go without mistakes and bring it home. But when he starts at the back, he can't drive himself way up front like a Kimi, Alonso, Lewis or Schumi.  Alonso can build a team and develop a car.. it has been confirmed by Renault and McLaren and it's a public secret in the paddock, wether you like it or not. Last year the car (and engine) was so bad even Alonso couldn't change tides. Kimi, what Ferrari said was that when the car is good he's way up front but when the car isn't he's not motivated enough. Also it's known that Kimi's Ferrari contract said he wasn't obligated to take part in the development. About engines, suprisenly the Toyota was by far the weakest engine of the field.. over 4 tenths slower. They did an engine analyses comparing what the fabrics presented and what they knew about eachother. Mercedes was the strongest, followed by BMW and then Ferrari, with then a gap to Renault and Toyota the last. Guess the Williams and Toyota chassis were much better then what appeared. Also it showed that Renault did have the engine using the least amount of fuel, they could go with the same amount as another engine and stay on track for 4 laps longer.

Btw, appearantly Schumi is preparing his neck for a rentree at Mercedes.. this according to dad Schumi.

^ Well, they haven't announced the second driver yet. Anything is possible. If he returns, it will be the most exciting F1 season in a decade.
Schumacher vs. Hamilton. :drool:

Lotus F1 sign Jarno Trulli and Hekki Kovalainen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8411249.stm)

Lotus F1 have confirmed Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen as their drivers for the 2010 Formula 1 season.

Trulli joins the new Malaysian-backed team from Toyota, while Kovalainen moves after he was left without a seat due to Jenson Button's move to McLaren.

The pair have signed three-year deals, with Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy named as the third driver.

"[The team] shows our seriousness to be a world championship contender," said Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes.

"Trulli will bring us a lot of experience to develop the team, and Heikki is a young driver but has phenomenal experience so I think we have two fantastic drivers with Fairuz as well."
   
Trulli was without a team after Toyota announced they were pulling out of the sport in November.

But the 35-year-old Italian- who won one grand prix for Renault in 2004 - has worked with Lotus's technical director Mike Gascoyne before, most recently when they were both at Toyota.

"I'm really looking forward to the challenge. I have been in Formula One for many years but there's something extremely motivating about helping to build the team from the ground level up," he said in a statement.

Like Trulli, Kovalainen has one grand prix victory to his name, won in Hungary for McLaren last year.

The 28-year-old, who was without a drive following world champion Button's move, warned that Lotus's return "will not be easy and we will have tough times at the beginning".
   
He added: "We have to be realistic and keep the focus on developing the team to a state where we can operate like any other current top F1 team."

Lotus F1 are one of five new teams in next season's championship and will operate with a budget of about ?55m.

Budget airline AirAsia entrepreneur Fernandes said he wants his team, backed by state-owned car company Proton, to be "the best among the new teams" in 2010.

"We are not setting any big targets, we want to at least be the best of the new teams, but I think it shows our seriousness today by announcing two really world-class drivers," Fernandes added at a ceremony in Malaysia's parliament in Kuala Lumpur.

F1 will have a new points system in 2010, with the top 10 finishes given points. Under the new system, First gets 25 pts, Second 20 pts, Third 15 pts and then the remaining 7 places get  10, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1 pts respectively.

The finalized F1 2010 race calender:

March 14 - Bahrain (Sakhir)

March 28 - Australia (Melbourne)

April 4 - Malaysia (Sepang)

April 18 - China (Shanghai)

May 9 - Spain (Barcelona)

May 16 - Monaco (Monte Carlo)

May 30 - Turkey (Istanbul)

June 13 - Canada (Montreal)

June 27 - Europe (Valencia)

July 11 - Great Britain (Silverstone)

July 25 - Germany (Hockenheim)

August 1 - Hungary (Budapest)

August 29 - Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)

September 12 - Italy (Monza)

September 26 - Singapore (Singapore)

October 10 - Japan (Suzuka)

October 24 - South Korea *

November 7 - Brazil (Interlagos)

November 14 - Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

* - subject to homologation of the circuit

Schumacher is coming back to F1! :o

Yeah today it will be officially announced.

Here are the sites of the new teams.. all the sites have pics with models or chassis of the new cars. (Campos in the .pdf file, pretty cool car!)

http://www.virginracing.com/ and www.manorgp.com/

http://www.lotusf1racing.my/

http://www.camposmeta.com/

http://www.usgpe.com/ and http://twitter.com/USF1

Nelson Piquet Jr. has announced that things are looking good for 2010 and plans will be made public soon. Rumour goes he's gonna sign at Campos Meta 1 -who's announced yesterday on Bernie's annoucements that he expects US F1 and Campos to not make it in Bahrain (and that Stefan GP - taking over Toyota stock will be there instead)- that they'll announce their 2nd driver soon and that they're also close to signing a title sponsor.

Michael Schumacher to race for Mercedes in 2010

great news for F1

How do you explain the fact that he took the team's first points, podium and only victory of 2009 in a car that wasn't in the top three....

Pretty good for somebody who's not "motivated".


I think the whole not motivated bullshit is made up. He loves to drive.

He seems to hate the politics of F1. The ass kissing, the sponsorship stuff etc.


It's a shame that F1 lost one of the biggest stars due to politics.




/jarmo

Ex-Renault boss Flavio Briatore has Formula 1 ban lifted (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8440675.stm)

Former Renault Formula 1 team boss Flavio Briatore has had his lifetime ban from motorsport overturned.

The Italian was banned by the sport's governing body, the FIA, for his part in Nelson Piquet Jr's deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

The French high court overturned the ban and awarded Briatore ?13,500 in compensation. The judge said: "The court ruled the sanction was illegal."

BBC Sport understands the FIA will launch an appeal against the decision.

The new FIA president, Jean Todt, has also talked about setting up a new disciplinary process to deal with similar incidents.

Briatore says he will enjoy a "moment of happiness" before deciding whether he will return to Formula 1.

However, his previous role at Renault has now been filled by Eric Boullier, as announced earlier on Tuesday.

"I would like to express my great joy with the decision handed down by the Tribunal de Grande Instance," said Briatore, 59.

"As a sports person and one passionately involved in car racing for more than 20 years, the decision to apply to the civil courts to contest a decision of the FIA was a difficult one for me to take.

"The fact the World Motor Sport Council had been utilised to deal with a personal agenda aimed at pushing me out of the world of competition left me no other choice.

"The decision handed down today restores to me the dignity and freedom certain people had arbitrarily attempted to deprive me of.

"I believe justice has been done today."

Briatore's lawyers had argued at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris that procedures adopted during the investigation were against the FIA's international sporting code.

"We have the feeling that some justice has been reinstated," Briatore's lawyer Philippe Ouakrat said after the verdict.

"I'm certain that the court was quite shocked by the way that the decision was made against Mr Briatore.

"The reputation of Flavio was tarnished but now he can recover his dignity."

Both Briatore and Symonds left Renault in the wake of the "crash-gate" scandal which shocked Formula 1 last summer.

Following Piquet Jr's dismissal by the team, the Brazilian revealed he had been asked to deliberately crash to help his team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race.

Renault were subsequently given a two-year suspended ban for their role in the race-fixing scandal at an FIA hearing in September, while Briatore and Symonds were handed longer punishments.

Briatore launched his legal case in October, claiming his right to a free and fair defence to the charges was flouted.

In his statement following the tribunal's decision, he claimed the court agreed with him that the FIA had:

- rendered a decision it was not competent to pronounce

- infringed its own articles of association

- totally failed to respect my right to a fair defence

- finally, entrusted the tasks of investigation, prosecution and judgment to a principle player known by all to be hostile to me

The Italian had also been seeking 1m euros in compensation but was awarded damages of 20,000 euros (?13,500) with Symonds given 5,000 euros (?4,500).

The court's decision also benefits Briatore as a co-owner of QPR Football Club as he is no longer in danger of breaching the Football League's fit and proper person test.

Nice to see ferrari fastest in all three testing sessions this week :D

hard to tell competitveness in testing i know, but its a better position than we were in last year lol

good to see schumacher setting competitve times too :D

The story goes that Ferrari hasn't performed with really heavy fuel tanks, judging by the runs they did. Mercedes looks a bit of the pace compared to Ferrari and McLaren. It also appears that the long wheel base cars (Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, BMW-Sauber) have an advantage on the shorter cars (Renault, Williams). Especially Williams seems to be struggling a bit.

Next week they'll test in Jerez, with Force India, Red Bull and Virgin debuting their cars followed by a Lotus presentation at the end of the week. The new Virgin car looks really fucking cool.. nice shapes and livery. Here's a vid of the shakedown, for more car pics see www.virginracing.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJH8CSmcUJA

The big question now is the status of USF1 and Campos. USF1 had some financial and technical issues, but it looks likely that they'll be doing a shakedown at the end of this month before heading towards Bahrein. Their car called 'Type 1' has a different approach to certain aspects compared to other cars. They have a different type of gearbox, which is larger then other teams but their transmission is shorter. Also their suspensions will be different, appearantly they'll have some hydraulic suspensions were they will be able to lift the car height.

Then there's Campos. They're in big money trouble, can't pay Dallara who's delaying the car release cause of it. Then there's also Stefan GP who's bought the Toyota stock and support and they've already send equipment to Bahrein eventhough they don't have an entry. Today was said to be Campos D-day. Cause Dallara can sell the designs of the car to someone else, like Stefan GP who can hereby then make sure Campos doesn't have a car and can't compeat, with Stefan GP taking their place.

Thing is, Stefan GP has money enough and the Toyota cars, but they also have the 'crooks'. Mike Coughlin from McLaren spy scandal and another ex McLaren sporting engineer who lied to the FIA last year and instructed Hamilton to lie (he then was fired by McLaren). Also as drivers they have Nakajima and appearantly Ralf Schumacher (juck). Bernie Enclestone is a big fan of Stefan GP and wants the team and those drivers in F1.
But then there's Campos, with Bruno Senna (cousin of) driving and I hope he'll get to drive F1 this year cause I'm really curious about his performances. It would be a big shame if he'd loose a chance again after last year when loosing in the end against Rubens Barichello at Brawn. Personally, I'd rather see Campos make it then Stefan GP.

I read an interview from Button i think, and he said ferrari's showed some good pace on long runs as well as short runs, massa was doing over 100 laps in testing, so lets see as the testing goes on

No doubt the Ferrari is fast, cause they've been working the longest on the car, but the question is how much faster cause McLaren is appearantly on a completely different program compared to McLaren. For example, Mercedes still have to run their 2010 diffuser and front wing.

Yeah, thats why i said its hard to tell in testing. we wont know till all the cars line up in bahrain  : ok:

everyone is jumping to say the ferrari is dominant, but i dont think they will be, you can never discount ross brawn, he masterminded all schumachers cars, and look what he didnt for honda/brawn he wont fail to deliver a good car with mercedes, wether its a winning car time will tell, and red bull have yet to test, and they say there car is evolutionary not revolutionary, which could be dangerous with vettelm and webber

im very looking forward to this season, the competitivness, but most of all, schumacher against the likes of vettel and hamilton and how he will do against rosberg and alonso, its goin to be great

Ferrari is fast because Alonso designed the car in his basement by himself while he was still at Renault and then told Massa how to run the first tests.

 :yes:





/jarmo

:hihi:

The Ferrari does look fast. Interesting that Hamilton is over a second quicker than Button. But since it's testing, who knows. Looking forward to Jerez and seeing how the Red Bulls do.

In a way, Kimi's situation is similar to Villeneuve's situation a couple of years ago.  Except that Kimi is "leaving" a winning team whereas Jacques was thrown out a not winning team.  But they both have been WC one time, they both speak their minds when they need to, and that is something that is not well appreciated in today's F1.  Villeneuve wasn't able to make a come back, partly because of this reason and partly because he has won his WC a long time ago and has been away from winning teams for so long.  That's not the case with Kimi.  Which makes me thinks that, if he wants to come back in 2011, he'll have more chance to succeed, and with a good team.  F1 world's moving fast, so who knows what doors can be open for him in 2011? 
Maybe his year in rally will make people see how he is missed and we need drivers like him in F1. 

Anyway, a little more than one month to go before the start of the season, can't wait... and the Canadian GP is back on, which is awesome news!!  Got my tix!  :peace:

Difference between Kimi and Villeneuve is that Kimi went out on a high - Villeneuve was very slow the last few years, especially in the end. But appearantly Red Bull are open to have Kimi driving in 2011 as they mentioned today.

Wednesday will be D-day for Campos, Dallara the chassis builder has set a final deadline. It's likely they won't make it and the team won't start, with Stefan Gp taking over their place.

Downside is that Senna will loose his drive (again) and Ralf Schumacher will return.. which is the last thing F1 needs. His last two years at Toyota was pretty bad, no motivation and all, besides the fact they said afterwards at Toyota that he wasn't exactly a good-mood bringer.

Looks like Adrian Valles from Spain will take the 2nd US F1 seat.

Tomorrow the new Force India will be presented, the day after the new Red Bull and this friday the new Lotus... looking forward to those 8)

Rubens Barrichello is in F1, and now possibly the slow Schumacher brother.... :hihi:

But no Kimi.

Irony!



/jarmo

You keep saying this, but keep in mind, the decision to leave F1 was mostly his. He wanted to go to WRC. I'm sure he could have gotten a seat at McLaren if he was really interested. As for Ferrari booting him out, while Kimi is an excellent driver, Alonso is the better, long term prospect. From a Ferrari perspective, that decision seems to working for them considering Alonso's performance in testing. I'm pretty sure he'll be the fastest in Jerez as well.

Yeah, it was his decision. But a lot of his decision had to do with what F1 is today.

It's still ironic that some people are in F1 and he's not.

When he's obviously one of the more talented drivers.....




/jarmo

There's always Red Bull and 2011.

Although with this season looking to be a cracker,  I hope people don't forget about him.

It's not of today that the best drivers are not necessarly in F1.... just think about the pnumber of paying drivers that F1 had, especially in te 1990s and beginning of 2000s... and it seems they are coming back now.  :(

Alonso's technical design for this new F10 looks brilliant...... :hihi:

Its a shame we will not be able to see the best drivers today (Alonso and Kimi) with the same car!!

I wonder if it weren't for Massa's accident and the sympathy factor, whether he might have gotten the boot instead of Kimi...

Just 4 more days for qualifying: Alonso vs. Hamilton vs. Schumacher vs. Button vs. Vettel. I can't wait! :drool:

Are we having another game this year?

Vettel on pole, massa 2nd alonso 3rd hamilton 4th

we are in for a great race, nice to see the ferrari's back on song :D

Damn, those Red Bulls are quick. However, tomorrow's race will give us an indication of who is the quickest over 50+ laps. I'm thinking it's going to be a Ferrari. I hope McLaren get their act together quickly. Jenson Button looks to be set in proving the general consensus that he isn't as quick as Hamilton in the same car.

It will be very interesting tommorow with the new rules!  I wonder who will be able to keep the pace!

I haven't watched a single race live on TV yet. I've only seen some highlights of some of the races this year....

I guess I'll watch the Spanish GP.



Kimi was voted the third most popular driver in F1 in the FOTA poll.

Awesome. Especially when you consider the number of German and Spanish fans who voted for Schumacher and Alonso. There's only 5+ million Finns on this planet.

Jenson who?  :P





/jarmo

I have been keeping up to date with things, and love watching each race. But I must say, I am dissapointed that Michael Schumacher hasn't done as well as I had hoped.

While he was with Ferrari, it seemed like he was unstoppable, but I think it shows it's all down to what car you are given. But I also think it's too early to say he has totally failed to make a decent season.

I look forward and hope he can get some good results under his belt soon.  ;)

Man, other than the Bahrain race which was boring, the other three were awesome. I was worried that F1 wouldn't be fun any more with the rule changes, but tyre selection has become crucial in each race. Barcelona will be fun for sure, with everyone putting on big upgrades.


Jenson has proven everyone wrong. He has won two races and leads the championship points. Although he isn't as quick as Hamilton, his experience and strategy are superb, making Hamilton look like a noob. You have to give credit where credit is due.

I am watching closely and slowly getting ready for the Canadian GP in June!  The first race was boring, the others were realllly entertaining... but there was rain.  Let's see how things go on a dry track!

Evita

The spanish GP will be a bore  :no:

It's not just about what car you are given. Ferrari was built around him, for him. Barrichello, Irvine and Massa were left with crumbs....

The same happened at Benetton.





He's still as boring as the rest of the drivers. No character.  :P

At least Kimi was different. That's why people still care about him even though he's not even in F1 anymore.





/jarmo

Yes, no one can argue with that.

I think that Ferrari was just trying to expose what they thought was their strongest link at the time. But I too, didn't like how his team mates sometimes were told to give him ground or position, I think that's taking it too far.

But it makes me wonder, why would Michael agree to come back if he knew he would not be contesting the top of the board. If things stay the way they are for him. I can see him wishing that he had finished his career on a high at Ferrari. Rather than making a dissapointing comeback and essentially making up the numbers.
 

Now you're just being biased. Jenson is certainly not the most entertaining driver in F1, but neither is Kimi. I would give that prize to Hamilton. No one can oversteer an F1 car like he does and no one drives or overtakes as aggressively as he does. If you had watched Malaysia you'd know what I'm talking about. Alonso, Vettel have no character? Hmmm...


Kimi is different, but you might be over stating how much people care about him. I haven't heard him being mentioned once in the press or otherwise since the season started.
In F1 you are forgotten quickly. I just hope he can make the 2011 season.

Kimi WAS exciting, after halfway through 08, he just kinda didnt seem botherd, and didnt really drive a memorable race since, he won spa 09 but hardly was an inspired drive, he only kept fisi at bay because he had kers! Im a ferrari fan through and through, and was excited when kimi joined, but after half way through 08, the real kimi just disapeared, i dunno where he went...

i dont think its fair to say he's been forgotten about though, even in the 2nd or 3rd race there was talk about him being chased by red bull if webber decides to quit at the end of the year

The press only loved him when they could write shit about him.

The poll was organized by FOTA and actual F1 fans voted. He was the third most supported F1 driver, even though he's not in F1!

That should tell you something, but you can just say "the press doesn't write about him".

Who cares!

He hates them anyway.  :hihi:


The fans still care. The same people who watch F1 and buy tickets to the races.

It's nice to see that there are F1 fans that still care, even though some of you don't.....



He won the race that actually requires a driver to be able to drive, in an inferior car, and you question his "inspiration"?

 :hihi:



/jarmo

Don't make this into an 'us vs. 'them' argument. I'm a big fan of Kimi, but I didn't like his decision to walk away from F1.
If he comes back, it'll be good for F1, otherwise, well...

I wish he had stayed too and it's apparent that many agree. Otherwise he wouldn't have been third in that survey!




/jarmo

WTF, The Red Bulls are nearly a second faster than anybody else. That's some car upgrade :o

he won that race, with not much competition, hamilton and button taken out, badoer in the other ferrari, and fisi would have beaten him had kimi not have kers, im not questioning he did well to win the race, coz he did, but theres no question kimi isnt the driver he once was

Lewis losing to Jenson. I guess he's not the driver he once was.....



/jarmo

Not a bad race. Excellent driving from Webber and Alonso. How disappointing for Hamilton. In spite of some excellent driving this season, he has had nothing but bad luck. First with strategy and now with a blown tyre. Oh well, looking forward to Monaco. At least McLaren still lead the constructors and Jenson the drivers championship.

Jenson has had luck and thats why he is where he is, although i hate lewis with a passion, in the dry he is clearly faster than jenson, lewis has been unlucky, as we saw today

I thought it was a pretty crappy race. As usual in Barcelona.

Hardly any overtaking.

It's like Monaco in that sense. You just wait to see who has technical issues or messes up a pit stop....




/jarmo

Although I'm from the UK myself, I have to admit I found it hilarious when Button kept on trying to get past Schumacher to no avail.  :hihi:

Ferrari to investigate Felipe Massa's performance

Ferrari are to launch an investigation into Felipe Massa's performance following his continuing struggles alongside team-mate Fernando Alonso.

The Spanish Grand Prix was the fourth consecutive race at which Brazilian Massa has been well off Alonso's pace.

Team principal Stefano Domenicali said: "We have to make sure the car is one he feels confident driving. For the first time this weekend it was not the case.

"It is important to go back and see what we have done around Felipe's car."

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8671392.stm





/jarmo

I hope they give Massa the boot and sign Kimi for next season. Kimi and Alonso. That would be some team. There are talks that Ferrari want to sign Kubica as a replacement for Massa next year though.

Kubica/alonso

vettel/alonso

i would love it. But remeber what happend with alonso/hamilton in 07, so weather its a great idea to have some one compete so high to alonso within a team is questionable. i am suprised at massa being so far behind, he gave schumi and kimi a good honest run for there money, massa becoming the better driver against kimi towards the end of his ferrari carrer, and i know he had his accident, but he was right on alonso's pace in bahrain, i expect massa to shine in turkey

Really surprised that Button had to end his race so early.

It was cool watching Alonso work his way up the grid, but I have to side with Schumacher on the safety car incident. The rules state Michael was OK to pass, and I honestly just think that Alonso was caught unaware.  :o

After Michaels' rivalry with Alonso during the latter part of his Ferrari career, I think he enjoyed his crafty little stunt all the more.  :hihi:

The FIA stewards, which included his old sparring partner Damon Hill, have deemed the German breached Article 40.13 of the Sporting Regulations, which states that ?if the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking."


That's the rule. I guess Schumacher is used to having his own set of rules....  :P




/jarmo

I just checked F1s' website and he has had 20 secs added to his race because of the foul. I thought it was a legal move as the commentating team said that as long as he passed after the line to enter the pit he was OK. It was obviously against the rules and he has been added seconds rightfully so.

I guess the drivers and commentators are not up on the rulebook, as this is something they should know if legal straight away.

The drivers can't know every rule by heart. It's up to the team to tell the driver what's going on and what he can do.




/jarmo

After the Trulli Chandhok incident it was clear that the race was gonna be finished behind the safety car, even the marshalls took their time :P All the teams have a rule book within reach, they could've easily checked out the rules if they wanted to make sure.

This season has been so boring.. I guess these days it's only interesting if it rains or starts to rain during the race. 

In one way it's not that boring, they're actually all really close together.. look at the top 8 in the DC, lots of changes with each race.

That said the biggest problem is the refueling ban, if if weren't for that there would be more tactics and less train rides on certain circuits and dry races. Really, the modern Middle Eastern circuits don't help either.

But instead of undoing the refueling ban or adding another tyrecompany to the grid they're introducing KERS again next year.. what a waste.

I also heard yesterday that there are now 13 new team applicants for next year.. which is good, cause I'm sure the FIA will manage to make a better situation this time after the fiasco of last time. Lotus and Virgin are struggling, but in reality each new team would since the competion has been around for quite a while with lots of experience. I expect Lotus to be around for several years, Virgin atleast next year and HRT I think this year will be their last. They'll probably 'give' their spot back to the FIA with some kind of money deal - dealing with debts. But I respect HRT for what they've achieved this season so far, the team is good but they have no money and the Dallara car is crap. I think Senna and Chandhok are not that bad as it seems, although they haven't really impressed either.

I expect for next year we'll atleast have Epsilon Euskadi on board, the Spanish Le Mans car manufacter/team who should've been on the grid this year. I also read about other American entrants like Cypher and Anderson F1 but I doubt we'll see them back :P And also Durango and ART are on the list, both longtime GP2 / F3 / etc. teams who are ready for the next step. I say good for them

Aren't most of the new tracks designed by the same guy/company (Hermann Tilke)?

I seem to remember hearing his new mentioned every time they introduce a new track. Like it's a good thing.  :hihi:


Sure, they look impressive but there's no overtaking places!



/jarmo

Yeah it's Hermann, we need to get rid of him - or put him up for a ride in a double seater :P

The European circuits are much better, I mean a track like Malaysia or China inbetween is ok, but the European tracks - like Silverstone or Spa they have much more appeal besides more overtaking places. How boring is it to watch a grey circuit with nothing around except concrete and desert colours. Same with Valencia eventhough it's in Europe, not only a boring track but the first time two years ago you see nothing but grey circuit and grey concrete walls, with grey fences, and a few cars.

But after the Bahrein GP this year the FOTA released a international market examination to ask all people with the help of multiple choice questions where they think they should improve F1. That's good to have the fans decide, it was a good move. Everything from tv airings, circuits, cars, openness of F1 etc. was all discussed. Now all they gotta do is do something with that info.

I don't like the Monaco track, so a rather boring race. Alonso did well to get to sixth. I thought the Schumacher move was quite legal. The safety car had returned to the pits, the race was back on and Alonso made a mistake. What did they expect him to do? Brake and follow Alonso after he recovered? Red Bull looks ominous. I hope it doesn't become a Brawn type situation for the rest of the year.

McLaren would have lead the championship if they hadn't made those two stupid mistakes - Hamilton's wheel blowout and Button's engine overheating.

The race wasn't back on. It was like the warm up lap before the race...





/jarmo

Hmmm. I guess you are right. It looks like Mercedes misunderstood the rules. The safety car will return to the pits on the last lap so that the race leader can complete the race without having the SC in front of it in the video feed, but the track is still under yellow flag conditions and overtaking is prohibited. The only doubt is some say that green flags were waved after the SC entered the pits, so in that case...

I'm enjoying the season so far, I was at the Australian GP and it kicked ass.

Very close battle, hopefully Schumi can get in the mix a bit more, Mercedes just need a bit more speed.

Kubica would be good a Ferrai but KERS doesnt suit him at all, he is too big and heavy as it is so if that is brought back next season it will be to his disadvantage.

Time for the Turkish GP. It's good to see some car competitive with the Red Bulls in qualifying, with Hamilton splitting Webber and Vettel. Whatever happened to Alonso?
Got to love Turn 8 at Istanbul Park!

Alonso has definitely done a great job in developing the Ferrari so far....

What mistakes?



/jarmo

^ I wouldn't write him off just yet. He's still third in the championship, although with a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes in Australia, China, Monaco and now Turkey.
He'll claw his way from 12th to end in points.

Of course not.

But for a team like Ferrari, who abandoned the 2009 season early on to focus on 2010, and a great car developer like Alonso, to still be this far behind at this stage of the season, it has to be disappointing.




/jarmo

Red Bull have some kind of special thing on their car, besides having the best aerodynamics, they're just one step ahead of everyone. Ferrari and McLaren follow, on the Turkey track Ferrari is more slow then on other types of tracks (which I don't mind to see cause I'm everything but a Ferrari fan). Alonso besides some mistakes has done a great job, beating his teammate almost every time and when he's starting from the back he's done some incredible races getting up to the back of Massa who's started in the front. Alonso's a great driver, one of the best there's no doubt about that.. wether you like him or not, anyone who thinks Alonso is not a great driver doesn't know what he's talking about.

Toyota did their 2010 F1 car shakedown earlier this month in Germany, it's confirmed they also have a special ride height system on their car, which Red Bull is also rumoured to have. Appearantly HRT is looking for a base/factory in Germany and their interested using the Toyota cars for next year.

http://www.anf1blog.com/2010/05/a-case-of-what-might-have-been-for-toyota-photos/

Jarmo you seem to still hold a bit of a grudge towards Ferrari / Alonso because they dumped Kimi. But considering the mistakes Alonso made and Ferrari's engines, besides that they haven't done so bad at all.. they're not far of the front.

What they did was shitty. Period.

The irony is that even though they abandoned Kimi and Felipe in 2009 to focus on the savior Fernando and Felipe for 2010, they're still not at the top as we speak.


When Honda/Brawn did that, they won six of the seven first races the following season.



/jarmo

I don't think they do. It's illegal and how would they have managed to hide it from the scrutineers? You can maybe get away with it once or twice, but if they had ride height control it would have been discovered by now. It's just the aerodynamics and the brilliance of Adrian Newey. It's a pity McLaren let him go. The Red Bulls don't even have their f-duct system in place yet...


That's just how F1 is. Loyalty only goes hand in hand with winning. Speaking of Brawn, in spite of that having the best season in their history and winning the championship and constructors, Jenson decided to move to McLaren and they booted Rubens to make way for Rosberg. Ferrari would have been foolish not to sign Alonso. He's one of the best racers around. I honestly think that if it weren't for Massa's accident, he would have been the one asked to leave rather than Kimi.

What a race! Vettel colliding with Webber. With nobody to really compete with the Red Bulls, the only competition they face is themselves, with the drivers taking away points from each other. This is the same thing that happened in 2007 with Hamilton and Alonso, allowing Kimi to slip through and win the championship. The next few days will be interesting - looking forward to hearing both drivers views. Bad Management from Red Bull.

Hamilton and Button almost doing a repeat of the Red Bull scenario. Button was well within his rights to go for first place, but Hamilton looked pissed that Button had disobeyed team orders to conserve fuel and save the tyres, very subdued celebrations from him. It just shows the difference in maturity with the drivers. Hamilton is so aggressive that his tyres and fuel were pretty much gone at the end of the race whereas cool Jenson knows how to look after his tyres. Button certainly had the pace at the end.

Interesting, Interesting race.

They could've signed him, for 2011.

But once they got Santander's money, they made the decision to pay Kimi not to race.

That's the shitty part.



Anybody who thinks 2009 was the drivers fault needs to think again.



Red Bull looked like amateurs today. McLaren showed that you can have team mates racing each other and get away with it.

This could be a costly mistake for Vettel. Unfortunately.




/jarmo

Red Bull definetly has a unique system on the car besides excellent aerodynamics.. wether it's ride hight (in some kind of way or form, doesn't mean it is illegal) or another system they have something the rest doesn't. One other thing that sets them apart from the other cars is the way their exhaust exits the cars, at testing they actually placed stickers on the end of the sidepods but the other teams weren't fooled by that :P On the Red Bull both pipes are exitting as one, dead center. And Red Bull did have an F-duct on the car in free practice this weekend, but decided to take it off since they had the speed to do well without an F-duct (atleast in quali). They're gonna use it in Canada now and use the coming days to work on it a bit more. And Adrian Newey decided to quit, he wasn't let go at McLaren. He needed a new challenge, which was either design race (sail) boats or another team, the rest is history..

I like Vettel, but if one is to blame it's him and not Webber. On replays you see Vettel steering inside, but it shows on Vettel's onboard he's not actively or deliberatly steering to the inside, it's just the bumping of the car. But both should've given eachother more space. It's a racing incident but turned out well for Webber and not Vettel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bge1BmXER0&feature=player_embedded

Like I said, they just want results using the quickest way possible, whatever that may be. They have no need to be so considerate. If there is a driver who can outclass Alonso consistently, they'll dump him and sign the new guy if possible.

Ferrari in 7th and 8th look like they've stalled their development to a trickle. So it won't be the drivers making the difference any more.



Yes, it's a combination of systems that gives them the pace (Ferrari are copying their exhaust system for Canada I think), but whatever it is the rest of the pack can't figure it out.


It's clear from the clip that Vettel's car slides into Webber's, but like you said surprisingly from the on board, he looks like he's going in a straight line. Definitely a 'racing incident', but there was no need for them to be so aggressive with each other. I think Webber should have given him the place, simply because Vettel was much quicker than him up to that point.

Vettel was quicker because Webber was saving fuel (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84050)....

It was his chance to overtake.




/jarmo

Webber was also driving with an update (rear wing) that Vettel didn't have this race. So he wanted to prove he was still faster and could overtake Webber. They way I see it now, Vettel was going slightly to the inside, Mark stayed straight but he gave a little room and made sure Vettel stayed on the dirty side. I think all in all it was a race incident.

This weekend I'd say Vettel was still faster then Mark, just in quali Vettel had a defect rollbar which was replaced for the race, but it's just a waste Vettel can't be consistent enough

Internal problems at McLaren and Red Bull are becoming more clear. Red Bull clearly favour Vettel (Him hugging everyone at the pit wall was amusing) while now it seems the reason Button was faster than Hamilton was because he was told to turn down his engine - three laps later than Hamilton. Did McLaren want Button to win since he has two wins already? Hamilton was also told to slow down and not to race Button in China. No wonder he was so subdued after the race, must have been wondering if his team was conspiring against him.

It's the same case with RB. Webber was told to cruise while Vettel was on full power (having saved fuel early in the race). Did RB want Vettel to win?

As the competition gets more fierce, the cracks will show. So far, Hamilton has been gracious about the whole thing (probably keeping in mind the Alonso incident), but I wonder for how long...

Check out the Mike Conway Indy 500 crash of yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OTb9ynww9Q

Genesis, you forgot: Does Mercedes want Schumacher to win instead of Rosberg? Considering they modified the car and it now suits Schumacher better. But it's not able to keep up with the Red Bulls and McLarens anymore.






/jarmo

Yes, good point. I think this is going to be a problem in any team with two top drivers. Last year there was no problem at McLaren when Heikki partnered Hamilton because he wasn't expected to do as well and unfortunately that's exactly what he did. Last year there was no problem at Red Bull either because Webber wasn't expected to perform well and RB was all Vettel's. There were problems at Brawn last year as well. However, now that Webber is winning races and Button is performing better than Hamilton, things are going awry.

I guess when drivers perform well contrary to expectations, there's a lot of tension in the team. Whom do you favour for the title?

Kimi Unlikely To Return With Red Bull

Horner dismissed talk of 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen returning to F1 with Red Bull next year.

The Finn quit F1 over the winter for the world rally championship, where he drives a Red Bull-sponsored Citroen.

Horner said: "Kimi has committed himself to rallying and seems to be enjoying that environment.

"So there's never really been any discussion? We've been happy with the job Mark's been doing so why would you change?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8709689.stm

No one watching F1 these days? A rather boring Valencia race except for Webber's crash. I'm glad he's okay.
Although as one report title put it: "Red Bull Gives Webber Wings!" :hihi:

Hearing Alonso basically cry over the radio was priceless...

They had to tell him to focus on his race and not worry about what penalties others might get.





/jarmo

Yeah, Ferrari got their strategy wrong. I don't know what Alonso is complaining about. They did penalize Hamilton and he still came in second.

Ferrari is the same team who used a "promotional event" to test their new parts on their car....


Maybe the pressure is getting to Alonso....



/jarmo

British GP at Silverstone. The new track is quite interesting and weird (with a bump in the middle). The Red Bull pace is now getting ridiculous. A second quicker than the next fastest car. Like Horner said, I think people have been focusing too much on the blown diffuser alone. After all, Ferrari, Renault and others have it now and they still can't match the RB6. A testament to Adrian Newey's genius. McLaren almost completely made a mess of things, great driving by Hamilton to salvage a 4th place start. It shows the difference in class between the two Brits at McLaren.

Lots of overtaking which was nice.

Nico Rosberg once again making Schumacher look average! Awesome!


Ferrari and Alonso needs to stop blaming bad luck for everything....


I wonder when Luca di Montezemolo will comment on his drivers... He had a habit of commenting on Kimi.




/jarmo

It was awesome to see Webber win after having to give up his new front wing to Vettel. A strong finish for McLaren inspite of not having pace. The season just gets worse and worse for Ferrari. They seem to have a strong car, but all sorts of other factors prevent them from doing anything meaningful. Alonso is still fifth, but I wonder for how long. Germany should be very interesting.

"Red Bull give you weeng and then take it away!" :hihi:

F1 at Hockenheim. No idea who'll get pole, but Ferrari look quick. A nice tidbit from Adrian Sutil's BBC Profile:

What is your favourite music to drive to?

Plenty of house music, but right now I'm listening to the new Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy. It's a great album.

I'm not a fan of Ferrari and Massa, same with Alonso (although I do appreciate his driving skills he's the best right now).

But Ferrari again pulls a usual dirty trick and manipulate the race. I say disqualify Alonso and Massa. The hypocrite bastards - which is mainly Ferrari teamleading.

I hope either Vettel or one of the McLaren's win the championship. 8)

I don't get why people are so annoying about what happened today...

They are a TEAM and they play like one.

Massa started well and was in front and would have won the race if it weren't for team orders. It ruins racing when results are manipulated and it's illegal. I agree from a team standpoint, Ferrari did what they should. The FIA should just scrap the rule if they can't enforce it. I'd say give Alonso a 5 second penalty. That would put him in second place. Ferrari have already been fined $100,000.

Alonso was faster most parts of the race but he couldn't pass Massa.. people wanna see racing, not drivers giving gifts like these. The most important positions of the race have been manipulated, which is funny cause Ferrari has been complaining about manipulated races all season now. The way the F1 fans react on this says enough.. aand a 100.000 USD fine is nothing, the WMSC should punish them more severe.

There's a RULE (since the Ferrari 2002 incident) that says you can't do teamorders, in the best team interest or not you should follow it. It's laughable they were denying it first, like the people watching the race at home are stupid.. hypocrites.

Team orders banned or not, will always be present in F1. Every team does this, not just Ferrari. Like when Webber was told to conserve fuel and Vettel was allowed to catch up in Turkey or Hamilton vs. Button in the same race.

You can expect a lot more as the season closes and teams are forced to pick one of their drivers for the championship. Having a rule banning it and then doing nothing when it happens is useless. What's the point of the FIA banning team orders? It's not enforceable. Before they used to clearly tell drivers to give position, now it's coded with stupid messages like: "So... Alonso is quicker than you. Can you confirm you understand the message?" Geez. Everyone watching the race understood the message.

I'm not saying I support team orders, but unless F1 rules change, it's still going to happen.

Didn't hear any order, did you? Massa only was told that Alonso was faster...that's it.

Technically, it wasn't an order.

There is a segment in the July 25th episode of Top Gear on Ayrton Senna, remembering him on what would have been his 50th birthday. Worth a watch.

Wow, you cant be serious. FIA isnt stupid and nobody really bought that whole crap radio talking.

For a team standing point, what difference would make if Massa had win? They could have a fair battle for the first position without any crash, this isnt an excuse.

It was ridiculous. I hope Ferrari get fucked on this case and both Massa and Alonso lose their points - that would make the team think again the next time they try to manipulate the race.

BTW, they could make it a lot easier for Alonso - just simulate a problem in the pitstop. It would still be bad, but it wouldnt be so damn obvious.

That was cool. Seems like Kimi is introducing Chinese Democracy for his ex-colleagues. :D

One of the most thrilling seasons in F1 comes to an end at Abu Dhabi with qualifying in about an hour and the race tomorrow. Still four contenders: Alonso, Webber, Vettel and Hamilton.
Don't miss it.

I stopped watching F1 after Kimi left, but looks like I'm gonna watch the race tomorow.

I hear qualifying is pretty boring these days.

Nope, not at all. That qualifying was thrilling, what a lap from Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton just 3 hundreds of a second outside too. A poor showing from Webber. The permutations of tomorrow's race are complex. Alonso just needs a podium to win the championship and I think he will. I wouldn't mind if Webber won it either.

This has been the best F1 season that I can remember, still four people with a chance of winning it tomorrow.

Last year the race was a train ride, if it's the same this year Alonso will be champion.. Webber's pretty much ruled out himself after today, if Vettel wins he'll only become 2nd in the DC when Alonso get's a podium. I'm hoping Vettel will become Champion, but it'll be likely Alonso. But this whole season's been great, qualifying's great only the 1st race this year was very very boring, the other's been great, unpredictable. 8)

And I'm guessing with the 2011 regulations the teams will even more closer in the midfield aswell next year : ok:

Well done to Sebastian Vettel, for winning both the race and the championship.  :)

The right man won!

I agree, he worked so hard this last leason and he did get all those poles.

And it's also nice to see someone win the title, other than the usual choices.

I saw Alonso yesterday telling people he's 110% sure he's gonna take the championship, talk about confidence.  :hihi:

Congrats to Vettel and I really hope Kimi comes back next year so I can start watching again.  :)

Congrats to Sebastian Vettel!, He's made the least amount of mistakes and was unfortunate this season with many reliability problems, but in the end it all worked out. Red Bull got the pit stops and strategy bang on. Can't say the same for Ferrari though. I wonder if Webber will continue in 2011. This was pretty much his last chance for a championship win. Pity.

Sebastian Vettel, Youngest World Champion.

Congrats to Vettel yeah, what an unbelievable race.. funny how Webber and Alonso weren't doing interviews for the start and Vettel did, being relaxed and all. He deserves the title, yes he's made several mistakes, but so has everyone else that fought for the title. Vettel was pretty much the fastest in quali and in races (and suffered the most mechanical failures), good for him. Webber seemed pretty disappointed in the post race BBC interview.. but looks like he couldn't handle the pressure this weekend. Probably this was his biggest chance, don't think he'll ever get more close then today.

And Fernando.. while probably the best driver out there in the field and doing a good steady job during the season, coming back from a big distance halfway the season, man what a bad loser you are when you're blaming Petrov! The guy drove excellent, funny when Alonso was doing his wrist action to him Petrov tried to ram him for a moment hehe ;D

I'm glad the arrogant Ferrari team hasn't won, but Red Bull.. a fresh team with no team-order bullshit with the world's youngest F1 world champion, a happy go lucky guy. 8)

I'm already looking forward to next year.. am pretty curious if there will be 2 Lotus F1 teams on the grid in 2011 as it looks alot this way right now, along with H?lkenberg's drive next year. He'll be leaving Williams and the question is where he'll go, HRT (which will drive with the never-raced 2011 Toyota chassis with Cosworth/Williams back end) and rumours are also he's linked to Red Bull, filling in Webber's position who'll go to Renault.

But first the young driver test next week. :P

Congrats to Vettel and Red Bull.

The right man won.

Webber really looked like himself today. Nothing special...



$100,000 doesn't buy you a title!

Wasted money for Ferrari.

Kimi is still the last champion they had, and in his first season there. Without the kind of backing Alonso had.... Makes it even more remarkable!  :P




/jarmo

Kimi's gone for some time now and will stay gone, quit living in the past Jarmo :P

Comparing Kimi 2007 with Alonso 2010 is comparing apples with oranges

What happened to that rumor of Renault wanting to bring back Kimi in 2011?

Denied by Kimi himself. He's not coming back to F1 any time soon. Alonso was pretty cool and calm in the second half of the season. If Ferrari hadn't screwed up their pit stop, he could have still been champion. He just needed to finish fifth even if Vettel won. Though no problems for me, Alonso has plenty of time to win a third championship and Vettel I'm sure will be a very likeable champion.

Just stating facts.

Santander buying Kimi out so they can get their favorite to drive for Ferrari, Ferrari paying a $100,000 fine for using very apparent team orders that hurt the image of the sport etc. weren't enough to win the championship....  : ok:





/jarmo

damn i love this forum gnr and f1 my two passions!
kimi always the best
vettel my favorite since the day that kimi got fired