2008 Formula One Season Official Thread

[f6fhellcat13]

Seems to me that the top 6 teams are in a different spending league form the bottom 4/5.

they can afford the diminishing returns that earn them an extra 10th per lap

[Zytek_Fan]

I think you could argue the Red Bull teams and BMW do the best management of the budget

[fpv_gtho]

If they want to encourage overtaking they should change the qualifying format. Qualifying with the fuel load for the race will ensure a parade. It's simple logic.

Different qualifying and even different points systems as talked about elsewhere doesnt change a car needing to be about 2s faster per lap to negate the lost aero through a corner to be able to overtake. These new rules are supposed to decrease it to about 0.5s a lap.

I think you could argue the Red Bull teams and BMW do the best management of the budget

I'm still surprised how litte Red Bull have been spending. Even combining RBR and STR's budgets, theyre spending less than anyone in the top 5. 2005 and 2006 the mediocre budgets made sense. Since 2007 though i was half expecting them to be spending big with Toyota and Honda.

[Zytek_Fan]

I'm still surprised how litte Red Bull have been spending. Even combining RBR and STR's budgets, theyre spending less than anyone in the top 5. 2005 and 2006 the mediocre budgets made sense. Since 2007 though i was half expecting them to be spending big with Toyota and Honda.

Having Adrian Newey definitely helps Red Bull

Toyota still doesn't seem to get that throwing money at it won't get you wins.

[fpv_gtho]

Toyota are simply still being run by corporation - their bi-annual rotation of management and falling out with Gascoyne are all a result of that. Honda have seen the light, or at least thats the hope, by hiring Brawn and putting him in charge.

Regarding the chasm between the budgets of 5th and 6th, you need to take into account the engine budgets. BMW for instance could be spending $100m on their engines still, whilst Red Bull might only be spending $15m on customer engines etc. That goes a fair way to bridging the gap.

[Zytek_Fan]

Toyota are simply still being run by corporation - their bi-annual rotation of management and falling out with Gascoyne are all a result of that. Honda have seen the light, or at least thats the hope, by hiring Brawn and putting him in charge.

It still makes me wonder why Gascoyne fell out of favor with the Toyota execs. If they retained him, they probably would have a win by now

[fpv_gtho]

The story goes he was heavily involved in the development of the Michelin-shod TF106, then management decided to strike up a deal with Bridgestone during the off season to fit in better with the image of the production side of the company. If you remember, Toyota were nowhere for the first third of 2006, continually struggling to get heat into their tyres. Its a problem they still struggle with, only coming on-form for the warmer races.

[f6fhellcat13]

I didn't want to take Jack's job, so I'll just post this here.

Q: (Tomas Richtr – TV Nova) To the McLaren drivers: could you please quantify the advantage from the headlights that your team at Woking installed on your car last week?
HK: Yeah, I had a chat about that with my engineer but I still prefer the aerodynamic advantage, so I will keep the lights off.
LH: For me, I thought I needed a bit more downforce, so I’ve opted to use them.

LOL

[Zytek_Fan]

BMW better choose their driver line up carefully.
Thiessen seems to like Heidfeld too much still and it's blurring his judgement.
BMW doesn't need a German in their F1 team.

[fpv_gtho]

Heidfeld's been the staple of the team the past 3 years though. Theres no reason not to keep them both for next year, the uncertainty is only there because Alonso hasnt confirmed whether hes staying with Renault.

[f6fhellcat13]

Alonso doesn't seem to have many options. I don't know quite how the driver slecting process goes, but he should have acted earlier.

[fpv_gtho]

Well BMW and Honda are willing to put off next years line up and still offer him tens of millions per year, in Honda's case even if its only a single year. BMW want something long term, and his current Renault contract lets him out at the end of each of the 3 years with various options.

You'd have to assume other than Renault, McLaren and Ferrari, any team on the grid would ditch any of their confirmed drivers for next year to sign Alonso although they might baulk at a single year contract and $30-50m per year salary. Alonso's hardly going to do something like what Senna did, and Heidfeld in 2004, and simply offer to drive for free or for very little if it means he gets a seat somewhere.

[f6fhellcat13]

I cant see him going to bmw, maybe honda wil ditch barrichello to get alonso, but for some reason I cannot see that happening either.

On a side note: Sorry if I post on these F1 threads a bit after the fact. I do not have cable, so I have to torrent the race or quali, and that takes 12-24 hours to finish downloading, and the torrents don't really seem to go live until 2-4hrs after race finish. I don't really know the results until 16hrs after the race, and I dont want to ruin the surprise by looking at these threads. I just finished watching quali 15mins ago, for example. I also like being able to watch it at my leisure.

[jump15vc]

Montreal has been dropped from the 09 calendar leaving North America without F1, it has been replaced by Abu Dhabi. This sucks i was planning on going to the canadian GP next year but i guess thats not happening. does anyone know why the canadian gp has been dropped? it seemed to be much more successful than the US GP

[twinspark]

does anyone know why the canadian gp has been dropped? it seemed to be much more successful than the US GP

The track breaking down during this year's gp might have played a role there. Although I'd think the ultimate reason is always money.