2010 F1
 

Ferrari unveiled their car! Looks quite similar to the 2009 car. anyone else excited for the season to start?

-Mike

I almost gave up on F1 seeing how my driver Kimi left for rallying. But I'm now very excited and behind USF1. I know they'll more than likely struggle this year at the back of the pack but its good to see a F1 team that is right out of the states. Plus Shumi is back and he's just very exciting to see drive. I hope Alonso completely tanks this year and Ferrari struggle just as much as they did this year! (I'm not bitter at all!) I read that Ferrari completely designed this car around the double diffuser and the larger fuel tank. I read the rear was covered up at the unveiling and if you looked like i did, you couldnt find a single pic of the back of the car. We'll see what McLearn rolls out tomorrow.

yeah, this will be an interesting year. and more stressful for the tire changers!

-Mike

I heard they're estimating something like 3 or 4 sec. stops.:eyebulge: i just dont see how this whole thing is gonna work? The races aren't shorter and the fuel tanks are only so big. and those 2.4L V8's aren't your hybrid gas sippers. sure everyone has tune them to conserve fuel while getting the best performance but it just seams like a stretch and i think we're gonna be seeing reliability issues in the first race.

DTM pit stops usually run in the low 3 second range. most are 3.2-3.4 seconds, but i have seen a few clocked at 3.0!!

i think the cars should be fairly reliable, as i'm pretty certain the engines haven't changed, and they did pretty well last year. like Vettel's engines that he ran twice and won with!

i'm annoyed that toyota isn't running this year, but i don't know which is worse: toyota running and losing left and right, or toyota not running at all. :iono:

-Mike

Thats always worse. Race R&D can/will often make its way to production vehicles, given circumstances. Its much better for an automaker (and its loyal fans), in that sense, to constantly be in competition.

So Mclearn's car is really different from last years car. Man that front wing is something crazy! And a new style shark fin is interesting. Wonder what bringing the exhaust pipes back so far will do for it.

I really like the Mercedes GP Petron look can't wait for the season to start

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...etronas_01.jpg

I have a lot of mixed feeling about this season that I'm trying to resolve. I doubt i'll be up at 5/6 every sunday to watch most races though :( ***sigh***

DVR man or DL... only thing I hate this year is the no fueling rule

my DVR is simply amazing for helping me catch every minute of practice, qualifying, and the races. i love being able to do replays myself, and backing up to hear the commentators.

David Hobbs is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

why don't you like the no-refueling rule? i kinda like it.

-Mike

I cant DVR anything like sports, I must see it live. I'll check for updates on my phone or get a text from Speed that would spoil it all. I'll still be getting up at all hours of the morning to watch the action. I'm with ya on the no re-fueling ban. It added something to the action of the race and made for intense moments in the re-fueling windows.

i think this way it's less up to team strategy and more up to the driver, though. everyone will be on the same fuel load from beginning to end, so you won't have the lighter cars running circles around the heavier cars. hopefully it works out to a closer overall field throughout the race.

also, for qualifying, again it's up to the driver because everyone will be on a light fuel load to run their fast laps in each session, instead of their race fuel load in Q3 like last year, seeing the fastest qual times in Q2.

this will put more pressure on the pit crew to get those tires off and on even more quickly!

all in all, when i really got to thinking about it, the re-fueling ban is a good thing, for both race fans and pit crews (safety-wise).

-Mike

that's true. i HATE when one of my friends watches the race before i do and puts up some BS spoiler facebook status. :(

that said, i never really enjoy waking up at 6am on sundays, so i rarely watch F1 live.

-Mike

Yes i cant wait for this season. should be the most interesting in a few years. just hope lewis is a bigger contenter this year.

Fueling adds to the drama of pit action

well the first test is underway and Ferrari looks strong. They lead both the morning and afternoon sessions. Strong showing considering they are already considering a B spec car for later this year. Micheal was also in action posting the third fastest time. Pedro De La Rosa post the second fastest time for BMW Sauber. This could very be an interesting year. Hopefully USF1 comes ready to play later this month.

from Autocar.co.uk

Michael Schumacher has returned to Formula One action for the first time in more than three years on the first day of winter testing in Valencia.
After less than 20 laps, Schumacher was already faster than his Mercedes GP team mate Nico Rosberg and ended the day more than half a second quicker than Rosberg. Schumacher finished the day third out of eight runners and less than four tenths of a second slower than Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Of the 13 teams on this year’s grid, seven took part today in Spain.

Updated with more than 50 pics: see 2010's F1 cars in action in Valencia - including Schumacher's return
Alan Henry blog: The F1 2010 season starts today

Teams have been banned from testing since last November’s race in Abu Dhabi and they have 41 days to prepare for the new season, which kicks off in Bahrain on 14 March.

Renault, Toro Rosso and Sauber all showed off their new cars in the past 24 hours and were at today’s test. Ferrari, Williams, Mercedes and McLaren, who revealed their cars last week, also ran.

Mercedes W01 F1 car revealed
Renault F1 shows new colours
Sauber's sponsorless F1 car
Toro Rosso F1 car unveiled
McLaren launches new F1 car
Ferrari launches 2010 F1 car

Force India and Red Bull have both opted out of this test and will instead run later this month in Jerez and Barcelona. New teams Campos, Lotus, US F1 and Virgin Racing are all expected to test by the end of this month.
Keep checking back to autocar.co.uk today to see latest pictures of the class of 2010 in action for the first time.

Unofficial times from today's running:
1. Massa Ferrari 1:12.574
2. de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:12.784
3. M.Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:12.947
4. Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:13.543
5. Paffett McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.846
6. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:14.449
7. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:14.762
8. Kubica Renault 1:15.000

The 2010 F1 season starts today!

Alan Henry

The 2010 F1 season starts today! A three day official test kicks off this morning at the old Valencia circuit to be followed by stints at Jerez (10-13 February and 17-20 February) and finally Barcelona(25-28 February).

It’s going to be an electrifying year. Truly Mercedes today officially unveiled their W01 in preparation for Michael Schumacher’s first serious tilt in a contemporary, state-of-the-art Grand Prix car since 2006, the long-awaited new Williams-Cosworth will break cover in the hands of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg and young Vitaly Petrov – runner-up to Hulkenberg in last year’s GP2 championship – will become the first ever Russian F1 driver when he takes to the track in the new Renault R30.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/csfiles/blo...%20drivers.jpg

Renault F1 shows its colours
Mercedes WO1 F1 car revealed
Sauber's sponsorless F1 car

Petrov’s presence on the grid is surely calculated to accelerate the possibility of a Russian Grand Prix soon being added to the schedule. Bernie Ecclestone has been talking to various potential promoters in both Moscow and St Petersberg over the past few years and Petrov is determined to play his part in being a catalyst to make the big event happen .

"This is what I tried to do a long time ago, so when I was driving in GP2 I always tried to get the TV and newspapers to say 'come on, we're Russia, we're a big country, we must have a Formula One grand prix. It has to be,'" he said. "So now I'm here maybe they'll wake up and try to do something."

He also hopes more Russian companies will become involved in the sport. Although Petrov is believed to have substantial sponsorship behind him, he said it had all been raised via family and management connections.

Asked for his views as to whether he felt major Russian sponsorship was likely to follow him into the sport, Petrov replied: "They must now, they must wake up because we came here without any sponsors, without any help to be in Formula One - with just my father, my manager and my father's friends. Nobody else. Now they will see us in Formula One and that will change something."

Yet amidst all the excitement of new faces in F1 places, Valencia today will be the scene of one man’s personal and very touching victory over adversity. Felipe Massa, now hopefully as fresh as a daisy after making a remarkable recovery from those dreadful head injuries sustained in Hungary last year, will be back in a Ferrari F1 car ready to take on the world.

Of all the personal triumphs represented by the start of a new world championship season, as far as 2010 is concerned, this one of surely the greatest.

eyecandy from Jalopnik... click for larger images
Andreas Gursky's Formula One Pattern Recognition

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...x_gursky_1.jpg

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...x_gursky_3.jpg

Whatever the words, whatever the money, what Gursky can do is spot visually interesting patterns in man-made landscapes, photograph them, then photoshop them until they become slightly unreal yet recognizable.

Said photoshopping appears to sometimes involve the use of the color balance tool: it took me repeated glances at F1 Boxenstopp I, shown above, to realize that the yellow team in the top left corner is in fact Scuderia Ferrari with a yellow cast and not a rebirth with modern machinery of Ecurie Francorchamps, a racing team which campaigned Ferraris across the 50s, 60s and 70s painted with various amounts of Belgian racing yellow.

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...ncorchamps.jpg

there will be plenty of drama with tire changes. i'm content with a MUCH MUCH safer pit environment. look what happened last year when Kovaleinen (IIRC) pulled away with the fuel hose attached and Kimi pulled out behind him. flash fire!

also, you don't have to worry about running out of fuel during the race if there is a fueling rig problem.

i'd prefer to see more action on-track, not in the pits.

-Mike

Well Massa dominated the time sheets again today. No one was in a half second of him at the final lap times. One more day of testing tomorrow.

Unofficial Tuesday test times from Valencia:
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:11.722, 124 Laps
2. Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber, 1:12.056, 96 Laps
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:12.256, 108 Laps
4. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:12.426, 119 Laps
5. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:12.899, 119 Laps
6. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:13.377, 102 Laps
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:13.823, 107 Laps

whats Williams engine for 2010? last year 2009 was toyota

Williams F1 is running Cosworth engines this season along with most of the new teams.

wow cosworth is back can't wait, Lotus & USF1 hope they'll do good this year :happyanim:

Yep their back. Hopefully they'll but together a strong package for the teams to use. It's almost lop sided in the amount of teams using them, and the amount of data their gonna be getting back after every test and race.

The "TF110" might actually make it to the grid....... :D

It might.....and its a big might. Stefan GP is still holding on to the notion that if one of the new teams doesnt make it to the first race that they'll be able to get it cleared through the FIA to let them race (using the TF110). They sent a shipping container to Bahrain with parts to prove their ready. We'll see how it pans out.

Ferrari again leads the day so far. Their the only team that has reach below the 1:12.000 line. Heres the times at the half way point today.

Pos. Driver Car Best Time Laps
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari F10 1:11.599 55
2 Pedro de la Rosa Sauber C29 1:12.094 28
3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes MGP W01 1:12.438 30
4 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso STR5 1:12.576 37
5 Jenson Button Mclaren MP4-25 1:13.498 23
6 Nico Hulkenberg Williams FW32 1:13.669 72
7 Vitaly Petrov Renault R30 1:14.009 29

I would LMAO if Stefan got the chance to race and put a Toyota on the front of the grid in Bahrain.

It was puzzling that no one wanted to buy Toyota's outfit. It was a almost ready 2010 car and reliable motor. But it did come late for the new teams which had already established themselves and started on their own cars. I cant wait to see USF1's car later this month. Virgin Racing unveiled their car yesterday on the web.

Here is how the last day of the first test ended.


Unofficial Wednesday test times from Valencia:
1. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:11.470, 127 Laps
2. Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber, 1:12.094, 80 Laps
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:12.438, 82 Laps
4. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1:12.576, 97 Laps
5. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:12.951, 82 Laps
6. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:13.097, 75 Laps
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Williams, 1:13.669, 126 Laps

I heard Lotus was initially offered and interested, however, they refused to because they would have had to "dispense of key personnel".....

I'm guessing the guys at TMG still got beef with Gascoyne :iono:

Well the 2010 season is finally here :happyanim: and it started this morning 6:00 am (for us Americans w/ the second practice). Was i the only one in the forum to watch it? The new teams really are a concern with their very slow times of 6+ seconds off the pace, and this whole no refueling the cars really upset the cars on the bumpy parts of the track with the extra weight. Now to digest the the practice times and put my fantasy picks in for the race.

So am i the only one who thought the qualifying was a bit boring

they are doing more strategy vs racing, conserving tires vs going out and trying to win pole vettel #1, massa #2, alonso (ass) #3

anyone watching the Albert Park practice? i get a kick out of the commentators. especially David Hobbs. he's the best! haha

-Mike

i know you were talking about bahrain but i only get to see one set of qualifying each year and dats the melbourne one and that was awsome this is really looks like it will be an exciting season.

anyone have a favorite out of the new teams mine is Lotus
"fingers crossed they finish the second race again lol"

finally a exciting race wet track.. go vettel

Man, once Redbull fixes their mechanical mistakes this championship may just be over. if it weren't for two problems Vettel would be sitting on top with 50 points. I hope they get it sorted out for the next race this kid deserves a win.

this time it was purely his mistake, no matter what they say about brakes or what you can see from the water splashing onto the camera that he didnt see the wet patch appraoching the corner and went straight through it lost traction in that wheel couldnt brake and went straight off.

p.s. im just waiting for the new teams to find pace and make this years championship really interesting!