The F1 thread.

For me probably the car that was closer to the original F1 looks was the Brawn car in 2009. Just plain white. No sponsors, nothing. It was sexy! This year's cars are totally ugly. If I have to pick one I'd go for the Mac.

Seve wrote:

the way the nose cones have looked from about 1994 onward is just unnatural and ugly to my eyes, with the nose sticking up and the wing hanging down below it

The reason for that is that a high nose allows more air to pass over the frotn splitter, generating more downforce. The 2012 regulations call for a lower nose - not completely down, but certainly lower than the current crop. I'd say we'll see more noses like this year's McLaren next year. Some of the team have complained, claiming that the cars will look ugly, but they're just resisting the changes because the lower noses will reduce downforce, and they're already taking a massive hit with the ban on off-throttle and blown diffusers.

The Life & Times Of Evil Bernie

"F1 tycoon tells German 'bribe' trial that he paid banker £27.5m to avoid revelations which could have left him with £2bn tax bill
He was testifying against Gerhard Gribkowsky, a former executive at the state-owned BayernLB bank, who is accused of accepting Ecclestone's $44m (£27.5m) in return for smoothing over the 2005 sale of the bank's $839m stake in F1 to CVC, the private equity group."

the man has no ethics

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Seve wrote:

the way the nose cones have looked from about 1994 onward is just unnatural and ugly to my eyes, with the nose sticking up and the wing hanging down below it

The reason for that is that a high nose allows more air to pass over the frotn splitter, generating more downforce. The 2012 regulations call for a lower nose - not completely down, but certainly lower than the current crop. I'd say we'll see more noses like this year's McLaren next year. Some of the team have complained, claiming that the cars will look ugly, but they're just resisting the changes because the lower noses will reduce downforce, and they're already taking a massive hit with the ban on off-throttle and blown diffusers.

exactly

the cars can't look any uglier than they have done for the last decade, unless we go back to the Ferrari T4...
:affraid:

Sharky wrote:

This thread needs Shadowonthesun/ Captain Tightpants.

Please, I'm already here.

Yes, I have another screen name. I'm a member of several forums, so I'm trying to consolidate all my accounts under one name. So far it hasn't worked at CBn or MI6.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Sharky wrote:

This thread needs Shadowonthesun/ Captain Tightpants.

Please, I'm already here..

Note the date of that post.

Huh. I could have sworn I was on the last page of this thread when I quoted that ...

But of course! This thread needs an other F1 fanatic member.

Any thoughts on Abu Dhabi? I didn't watch it, but I see Vettel was a non-factor and Ferrari placed 2nd so there is that to be happy about.

It was interesting. I expect Maldonardo will be seeing waved blue flags in his sleep. The start was strange, the cars all becoming bottle-necked, it seemed. Hamilton was fastest all weekend, so he always looked favourite to win, so saying Vettel's earlier departure 'gifted' the race to Hamilton seems rather unfair and not a little ungracious.

It's interesting to see the mutual appreciation society that has sprung up between Alonso and Hamilton. Alonso surprised everyone - Hamilton included - by saying some very nice things about him pre-race. And Hamilton continued it by saying how hard it was keeping one of the best drivers in the world to second place. And all the time, Alonso's team mate has been bad-mouthing Hamilton, saying what a brain-dead driver he is. Considering Massa only needs to hit the safety car to have the full set, it seems a bit rich. But then Massa has always been far better at throwing his toys out the pram than actually driving it fast and accurately around a track.

The double DRS zones were interesting. Webber seemed to have some real problems with braking, but what was going on was a mystery. Button did very well to get Third with a constantly failing KERS - the way that affects the balance of the car is something else. He never knew whether it was going to kick in or not. It failed at the start, started working again after he had shut down systems and rebooted them (all while racing his socks off and managing to keep Webber behind him), and even when it started working again, it would keep failing, so in effect, it wasn't working more than it was. Which affects all kinds of balance and brake bias. So I think Third was pretty good.

Highlight was definitely Eddie Jordan calling Paul McCartney 'George'.

A very nice overtaking manouevre from Rosberg got him past his team mate and into serious points.

Still no news about Kubica, which is a real shame. He's got phenomenal talent.

Lotus will be racing as Caterham next year. A few other names changes, but I'm just sad to see the Lotus name go again. Still, with any luck it'll be back.

Ravenstone wrote:

It was interesting. I expect Maldonardo will be seeing waved blue flags in his sleep...

thanks for the summary

Maldonardo? I'm working with a girl called Maldonardo, she's from Argentina

"Caterham"? not a very sexy name for a racing team
mind you neither was "Williams"

Difference being, Williams is Frank Williams' name, while Caterham - as well as being a town in Surrey - is a manufacturer of light weight sport cars, notably the Caterham 7 - a direct descendant of Colin Chapman's Lotus Seven. And Lotus now own Caterham.

Abu Dhabi was boring as far as I'm concerned. I have to admitt that Vettel's early DNF made the race very dull. A lot of clinical, artificial, soulless overtakes. Double DRS zone was definitely a mistake.

Thoughts on Kimi's possible comeback?

I'm looking forward to it. I thought him going to Ferrari was a big mistake. Although he did tell Michael Schumacher to fuck off, which always improves anyone in my estimation ;)

Ferrari did not suit him, although he won his championship there. I blame Massa.

Ravenstone wrote:

Difference being, Williams is Frank Williams' name, while Caterham - as well as being a town in Surrey - is a manufacturer of light weight sport cars, notably the Caterham 7 - a direct descendant of Colin Chapman's Lotus Seven. And Lotus now own Caterham.

ooh ah! I see now

however, it still doesn't make it any more appealing as a team name
:oops:

Erm - HRT????

Nice review Rave. Way more interesting than the sports page coverage I read!

Ravenstone wrote:

Erm - HRT????

Habit Reversal Training?
Heart Rate Turbulence?
Hormone Replacement Therapy?
Humane Research Trust?
Hydraulic Retention Time? the average length of time that a soluble compound remains in a constructed reactor
Heidelberg Retina Tomograph? a confocal laser scanning system for acquiring 3-D images of the posterior segment
Hostage Rescue Team? an American Counter-terrorism unit
Holden Racing Team? an Australian V8 Supercar motor racing team
wait, I've got it!
HRT F1 Team, a Formula 1 team competing in the 2011 season, previously known as Campos Meta and Hispania Racing F1 Team
no it doesn't excite the emotions does it
just call them "Hispania" and it's fine


BRM wasn't bad though, brrrm brrrrm

tiffanywint wrote:

Nice review Rave. Way more interesting than the sports page coverage I read!

Thank you very much. I keep saying I should be a commentator. One thing's for sure - I wouldn't pull any punches...

"So - Jensen - is it true that after one of your wins for Brawn GP, you shagged your bird over the desk in the motorhome?" :D

"Massa - seriously - you think you're good enough to share a garage with Fernando Alonso?? I mean - seriously???"

"Michael - exactly how many of your championships did you cheat and/or otherwise flagrantly ignore the rules, then, eh?" :D

Oh yes. I'd be sooo popular in the paddock.

And - "Sir Frank Williams - previously known around the paddock as 'Wanker Frank'...."

Ravenstone wrote:

Oh yes. I'd be sooo popular in the paddock.
.."

Start an F1 blog and demand a media credential. If it was racy enough, they'd probably all read it.

Rave's commentary is brought to BondandBeyond courtesy of condomjungle.com

Ravenstone wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

Nice review Rave. Way more interesting than the sports page coverage I read!

Thank you very much. I keep saying I should be a commentator. One thing's for sure - I wouldn't pull any punches...

could you ever live up to the legend of muddly talker, I mean Murray Walker?
:oops:

Seve wrote:

could you ever live up to the legend of muddly talker, I mean Murray Walker?
:oops:

I see myself following in the footsteps of James "You haven't got a bloody clue what you're talking about, have you Murray?" Hunt :D

See, if I was media savvy, I could do it. But I'm not. So I wouldn't have a clue

Aris wrote:

Double DRS zone was definitely a mistake.

It would have worked better with one on the main straight and one on the back. The problem with a double DRS is that it deters drivers from passing in one zone, because they know the driver behind them will get the position back.

Aris wrote:

Thoughts on Kimi's possible comeback?

I think it's a mistake:

1) Raikkonen has been out of the sport for two years. In the time since, we've seen four major changes that fundamentally alter the behaviour of the car: Pirelli tyres, fuel-heavy cars, DRS/the F-duct and KERS (I know Raikkonen used KERS in 2009, but the Williams KERS system is completely different to the Ferrari one). Just one of these will be difficult enough to overcome, much less all four.

2) Raikkonen's behaviour in the WRC has been very bizarre, so say the least. He crashed into Henning Solberg in the Rally France-Alsace, and although his car was only disabled, he retired on the spot. He could have re-entered under super rally regulations (though he probably could have restarted the car with only a minor time penalty at the next passage control). But instead, he was on the road home within an hour. He did it again in Catalunya (though he would not have been able to restart the car. He would have to convince any team principal that he is committed to a return.

3) Raikkonen and Williams want different things - Williams want to get back to the front of the grid, which will take a few years. Raikkonen wants to do a year with Williams and then move to another team. Given that it usually takes a year for a driver's influence to be felt within the team (Rubens Barrichello did not really influence the FW32, but he has developed the FW33), Raikkonen will have set Williams back two years because they will have to find someone else in 2013.

4) Williams are a publicly-listed company. They're expected to sign Raikkonen up - but if they don't, their share price will nosedive.

Well, final race of the season. I didn't manage to do much except watch snippets, as I was busy cooking this afternoon (I know - it's hard to believe, isn't it? All this. and a domestic goddess. 'Imself is such a lucky, lucky bastard ;) ).

Two whisky cakes, if anyone was interested.

Anyway, I find it difficult to believe there was really anything wrong with Vettel's gearbox. You can't tell me those clever boffins as Red Bull (with Adrian Newey, no less) can't make computers flag up problems that don't exist. And Webber seemed distinctly underwhelmed by his win.

Schumacher needs a lot of good luck to get him through customs tonight. Him and Alex Wurst. Not only does he have a coming together with a Brazilian racing driver, but he has to do it at the Brazil Grand Prix, and with Bruno Senna of all people. Unforgivable. It looked like a fairly straightforward racing incident to me, but Wurz was on the panel that gave Senna a drive-through, so his name will be on the customs officials lists tonight.

Two full body cavity searches there, I reckon.

Beautiful smooth driving from Jenson again. When he's in the zone, he's fan-bloody-tastic.

I hope Barrichello doesn't retire. I'll miss him.

So that's it until March 2013. Bugger....