2006 Formula One season begins! [Archive]

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bigC

03-08-06, 08:04 PM

... this weekend with the Bahrain GP! at long last, F1 has returned. :beer:

the big stories for this year are the new technical specifications (ie, v8 engines, tires); the new complex qualifying system (yet again); new teams (Super Aguri) or rebranded teams; and whether or not all the driver changes made from last year, such as Rubens joining Honda, Massa with Ferrari, Heidfeld with BMW, etc, will pay off for their respective new teams.

of course, the main questions: can Alonso repeat? he has already decided to leave Renault to join McLaren in 2007, so will be be competing 100% for his current team, knowing that he is leaving? will Schumacher and Ferrari return to the top of the pack? will McLaren be able to assemble an engine as fast as 2005's yet able to complete races without blowing up. how many accidents will Kamikazee Sato cause? how long will it be until there are calls to replace JV in BMW? how many races witll the best driver in F1 (never to win a race) win? and how much will Rubens enjoy playing second fiddle to Button?

i wonder if there will be a race at the US GP this year, or another fiasco? and Spa: gone from this year's calendar (but bad weather, lack of fan support, and financial; troubles speled trouble fopr this race). a shame, since it is one of the most difficult courses in F1; hopefully it returns for 2007, but i wouldn't count on it.

season preview, in 3 parts:
http://www.formula1.com/news/4042.html
http://www.formula1.com/news/4043.html
http://www.formula1.com/news/4049.html

the new rules: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story.asp?id=157527

Shamrock

03-08-06, 10:20 PM

YAY!!! I cant wait!!!

Go Kimi!!!

Capt. Picard

03-09-06, 01:16 AM

YAY!!! I cant wait!!!

Go Kimi!!!

I am suprised if Americans also watch F1 Grand Prix. Because as I understand, for Americans, it is only Indy cars this and Indy cars that.

It is much more fun when many different countries are involved than only mr. so-and-so's team on the one hand and company this-and-that's team on the other.

Shamrock

03-09-06, 01:56 AM

Well, more Americans might watch than last year, since Scott Speed is now racing :D

Capt. Picard

03-09-06, 02:08 AM

Well, more Americans might watch than last year, since Scott Speed is now racing :D

What!!!, is that his real last name? Speed!!!

How appropriate. :D

Mr_LoL

03-09-06, 02:17 AM

Well, more Americans might watch than last year, since Scott Speed is now racing :D

Yeah but I dont know how good he will be in that new team. If he outperforms liuzzi, he might get a better drive next year.

mastermuncher

03-09-06, 04:21 PM

I am suprised if Americans also watch F1 Grand Prix. Because as I understand, for Americans, it is only Indy cars this and Indy cars that.

It is much more fun when many different countries are involved than only mr. so-and-so's team on the one hand and company this-and-that's team on the other.

Thats sad but true. F1 is the best racing in the world. period. period. period.

American fans just havent embraced it very well, and I don't understand why. Indy car isn't as big in the US as Nascar, so that may explain some. I blame Penske and Tony George for the fall off in support for open wheel racing in the United States.

I was glad to see last year that Ferrari didn't dominate as they did in the 2004. That was a bad year for the fans in my estimation. I like Juan Pablo, and think he has a lot-o-talent, but he just can't bring it to the track with him every day :) . There were some big offseason shakeups in the managment at ferrari, so we'll just have to see what happens to the team this year. Ruebens leaving may actually hurt them more than they think.

I like that fact that F1 really has the best drivers in the world, and in some cases the driver can actually make a bad team good. Drivers are much more important to the performace of the car than in Nascar. These cars are the most technilogicaly advanced autos in the world, and they show it.

I for one can't wait for that high pitched whine of the cars as they take off from the starting grid for another year !!! wooootttt..........

Shamrock

03-09-06, 10:33 PM

What!!!, is that his real last name? Speed!!!

How appropriate. :D

YES! That's his REAL name, he drives for Toro Rosso (2nd Ferrari team)

MustangSVT

03-10-06, 10:11 AM

Scott Speed drives for Squadra Torro Rosso (STR), which is the 2nd Red Bull Team. It's not the 2nd Ferrari team. They do use Ferrari engines (as Red Bull did last year as well). STR is also using Red Bull's chassis from last year I think (RB01), and they're using last year's Ferrari V10 with restricted air-intake (I'm pretty sure of all of this).

Anyway, here's who to watch out for.

Jenson Button @ BAR
- he's supposed to have a truly competitive car/chassis combo now, will he finally win a race like he should have by now?

Kimi Raikkonen @ McLaren
- the best driver from last year, possibly the fastest driver in F1 right now. Will his car hold together for him to win all the races he's able to?

Scott Speed @ STR
- the first american driver in a long time I think, he's a very good driver, I've seen him in A1GP and GP2, he's got what it takes to be competitive. Look out for him trying to score some points.

Nico Rosberg @ Williams
- last year's GP2 champion, this is the son of the great finnish driver Keke Rosberg who was a F1 champion himself.

Lastly, will Alonso be able to keep up the pace from last season and how will Schumacher do with his new Ferrari V8?? I guess we'll see during qualifying. I watched the 2nd free practice this morning (recorded last night at 4 in the morning) and it looked pretty interesting.

wonder if there will be a race at the US GP this year, or another fiasco? and Spa: gone from this year's calendar (but bad weather, lack of fan support, and financial; troubles speled trouble fopr this race). a shame, since it is one of the most difficult courses in F1; hopefully it returns for 2007, but i wouldn't count on it.
The USGP at Indy will be back this year I believe. Also Spa is 99% sure to be back next year. They would have been on this year too, but after the financial troubles got fixed, they decided they had to repair the circuit and rebuild some grandstands, and they'll be back next year.

mastermuncher

03-10-06, 10:27 AM

Mr_LoL

03-10-06, 06:25 PM

YES! That's his REAL name, he drives for Toro Rosso (2nd Ferrari team)

There are the second red bull racing team!!!!!!!:)

bigC

03-10-06, 07:47 PM

although it's only Friday practice results, Ferrari's Schumi was second fastest to Honda's test driver Davidson. William and Renault were also quick, but McLaren and Toyota were well back. still, it's early on in the weekend, and most teams were likely taking it easy, not taxing their engines too much.

i don't know if everyone will be watching the race live, so we should either create a race results thread or simply warn everyone that race results will be posted in the main race discussion. however, these practice results are old, so:

1 36 Anthony Davidson Honda 1:31.353
2 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:31.751
3 35 Alexander Wurz Williams-Cosworth 1:31.764
4 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:32.175
5 1 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:32.538
6 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:32.703
7 37 Robert Doornbos RBR-Ferrari 1:32.926
8 2 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:33.215
9 12 Jenson Button Honda 1:33.226
10 38 Robert Kubica Sauber-BMW 1:33.244

story:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/4070/751.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/751/10.html

bigC

03-10-06, 08:00 PM

The USGP at Indy will be back this year I believe. Also Spa is 99% sure to be back next year. They would have been on this year too, but after the financial troubles got fixed, they decided they had to repair the circuit and rebuild some grandstands, and they'll be back next year.yah, i knew that the US GP was on, just simply wondering if the drivers will be allowed to race, or will there be some stupid techincal problem like last year (ie, Michelin's crappy tires) that killed the race and gave Schumie his lone (tainted) victory in 05.

Ecclestone blackmails countries to support F1 (ie, no tobacco money through ads, then the gov't should support his empire). Spa may return if the money is right, but i've read that he wants a race schedule of 18, or even 17, races, which means that if Spa is added, another race will be booted from the schedule (the British GP perhaps? since Ecc really doesn't like the Silverstone facilities).

an aside: i may be going to the Canadian GP this year! :D i've made the trip to Indy several times but have never seen the race live in my home and native land. Montreal is an amazing party city populated with the hottest (French) women in Canada. ;)

Shamrock

03-10-06, 08:47 PM

my apologies, you guys are right, I got Ferrari engines mixed up. Got a question though

I thought they were suppose to use slick tires this year? they used the grooved ones.

MUYA

03-10-06, 09:20 PM

mikechai

03-10-06, 09:38 PM

w00t! Here we are together again!

Go F1 go!

agentkay

03-10-06, 09:39 PM

Not really, some lap record was already destroyed during testing last month. In general corner speeds should be higher and slightly lower top speeds. IMO, I think the tires will be faster this year for sure.

Mr_LoL

03-10-06, 09:46 PM

The torro rosso engine controversy is stirring up again.
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=35191

Shamrock

03-10-06, 10:57 PM

NAZCA M12

03-11-06, 02:05 AM

More overtaking, more action, more scantily clad F1 girls please....pah

I haven't watched f1 for 2-3 years now, hopefully I can get back to watching F1 this year.

Are the times being posted within last years or the new restrictions really affecting overall speed?

Hmm, we're all here i think. Anyhow, in order for overtaking (between competitive cars) to happen, it will either take a mistake or a risky move from the driver behind. In a way, it needs to be forced by the rules. When you have a stupid points system which basically rewards consistency and the carrot called refuelling stops, it significantly reduces the chances of good racing. Occasionally of course we will see a pretty good battle but right now, with the cars not lasting the distance without stopping for fuel, a seemingly bad starting position or slow first few laps can perhaps be overturned later, through quick pit stops or lower fuel. Now an F1 team is mostly trying to make up places by playing with fuel levels through the stops, and low traffic not direct overtaking. To add injury to insult, at the closing stages of a race, few evenly matched drivers will take the risks since a retirement is so costly now, plus with that ****head who had the bright idea of the 2-weekend engine rule, now they have to protect their engines as well, especially if they're going to make a 2nd race with the same powerplant.

Once again we have new engine rules in order to, supposedly lower the costs and reduce the speed of the cars. Will those dumb mother****ers rulling F1 ever understand that by changing the engine rules every 2 years, R&D costs will only be increasing? Also, '06 cars that can lap 2 or 3 seconds slower than '05 ones don't become safe all of a sudden, and they certainly won't remain slower for too long when a tyre war is allowed in the first place. I think i'll be correct if i say that before the end of the season, these cars will be lapping quicker than 2005.

Well, it's official now. Montoya is crap, even on a straight line. Either that, or It's A MIRACLE:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=111531

I thought bad drivers from good ones don't have a difference down the straight: They all go flat out. Unless JP has a vastly different aero set-up (high downforce) from his team-mate, that doesn't sound normal. Oh well, it would be nice to see them break both engines, that should be more normal for them. ;)

i may be going to the Canadian GP this year! :D i've made the trip to Indy several times but have never seen the race live in my home and native land. Montreal is an amazing party city populated with the hottest (French) women in Canada. ;)

You lucky son of a ... Me, i'll be going to Monza :D Normally Hockenheim would have been my first choice but now that they've butchered the track, it's not worth it. Monza for me is the last "proper" and by that i mean very fast racing track with nice chicks too (alright fine, Spa too). Heh, i know exactly what you mean about Montreal's chicks :D (wife's Canadian)

NAZCA M12

03-11-06, 07:31 AM

And here is a great exhibition of the ****ty knock-out qualifying system:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/raceresults.php?racepartID=808

Big smash for KR (not his fault):

http://www.f1racing.net/en/photolarge.php?photoID=56971

Watch carefully the times of each driver :thumbdwn:

bigC

03-11-06, 09:44 AM

Ferrari is back! 1-2 finish in qualifying. hopefully the race goes well, too. :beer:

as for the qualy system: it was a lot better then the single car flying lap from last year, especially since it weeds out the slower cars and we get a final 20 minute free-for-all. it also is better then the one from a few years a (ie 12 laps over an hour) since everyone always seemed to wait till the end to post times. under this current system, the drivers are forced out, lest they don't post a time and don't move on into the next round.

story:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/4080/751.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/751/24.html

mikechai

03-11-06, 10:11 AM

Yes! The new qualifying system is much more exciting to watch, certainly better than single car flying lap.

Massa did a great job, he made Schumi sweat for a while.

MustangSVT

03-11-06, 12:27 PM

The qualifying was good, but at the same time I'm pissed off.

I don't want to see Schumacher and his giddy mate on the front row.

Kimi just had to have the suspension fail on him or something for random reasons. If that hadn't happened, I bet you he'd of been on pole. :mad:

Oh well Schumacher will get his. As the two problems Kimi has had with the engine, and seeing the pace of Alonso, I predict that Schumacher may win 2 or 3 races this season, but that's about it. You might have Massa and/or Button win one race each (or two for Massa), though I lost my trust in Button a long time ago. Other than that, Kimi will probably win more than 5 races as will Alonso.

NAZCA M12

03-11-06, 04:37 PM

That's the problem with the sport and the audience. I've said it in the past and i'll say it again: They make a bad rule change, take it two steps back, then they take half a step forward and everybody talks about a marked improvement and all that. Of course now i read the new qualifying got the thumbs up by the sports leading figures. Why is it not surprising really? I will note here that a few weeks ago Bernie Ecclestone himself said the new qualifying system is perplexing and he's confused. Oh the irony.

I'm still pretty negative on the new qualifying format as it is unfair, it remains unforgiving and the end results can be laughable just like the old one. Apart from the fact that we see all cars on the track racing for a position which is nice to have back, everything else is abnormal. The way the knock-out system works it doesn't exactly filter the slower cars out.

Guys, as i said look at the time sheet: JV is half a second faster than Heidfeld yet Heidfeld starts 10th and Villeneuve 11th. What sort of logic is that? Rosberg posted the 8th best time, whereas Webber was almost 4 tenths slower, yet Webber is 7th on the grid and Rosberg 12th! What sort of a ****ed up system is this that allows drivers with slower times to be ahead of faster ones? Is this the improvement you guys talk about? Is this the system that "weeds out the slower cars" ffs? The fact that the system itself "forgets" about the times posted with each session means the 10 drivers that will go for the final shoot-out, can post actually slower times than the guys between 11th and 16th yet, they are guaranteed a top 10 starting grid position regardless.

It reminds me of that stupid rule Indy cars had on Fridays: The driver who would be quickest in Friday's session, would be guaranteed a front row position. Come qualifying on Saturday, he could make a bad lap and say, post only the 12th time half a second slower than of Friday, yet he would start the race from 2nd on the grid, the "idiot" who posted the real 2nd fastest time would start from 3rd, the 3rd fastest driver would be 4th on the grid etc.

The same major disadvantage of the old system remains. It may not happen for several races, it might happen soon but if it rains halfway in the session, the "elite" 10 will be battling for pole between them with slower times than the guys behind them, plus not all drivers will have qualified under the same conditions. Why not give everyone the same chance condition-wise?

In addition to that, it remains hugely unforgiving. Today, a driver had an accident that was beyond his control, a mechanical fault not a driving error, why wasn't he given a second chance to salvage something from qualifying? Exactly what sort of role the mule (the 3rd car) is doing sitting in the pits all the time? To keep the ****ing costs down?

it also is better then the one from a few years a (ie 12 laps over an hour) since everyone always seemed to wait till the end to post times.

Mansell said not too long ago that he could come up with better rules in less than 15 minutes no problem. Let's do the same here. The 12 laps over an hour with everyone on the track was structurally fair, it didn't need a complete overhaul, just adjustments. How about, trim it to a 30 minute session, each driver will still do 12 laps but he'll have to post at least 2 timed laps within the first 15 minutes of the session, then use the remaining 10 or less as he pleases. If for whatever reason a driver is off the track (mechanical failure or driving error), he will have the right to go to the pits and use the 3rd car for the remaining laps from his 12 lap limit.

There, 4 ****ing lines, that's all it needed to post the basics of a revised system that is more fair than the current "you are slower which is why a faster guy starts behind you, yes i know you were quicker than him but you got bumped out in the 2nd session" BS system.