2008 Formula 1 Season Thread

Plus each car has the "get out of jail free" card, so if Massa's engine had blown 3 laps later he could have been able to use it. Raikkonen's has been used.
 
Ah the irony - teams use the 'engine reliability' clause to develop the motor and gain power... and decrease reliability...
 
The thing is... it's annoying that F1 has come to such low levels of unreliability. Where are the tons of mechanical failures on newly developed parts?
 
vikiradTG2007 said:
The thing is... it's annoying that F1 has come to such low levels of unreliability. Where are the tons of mechanical failures on newly developed parts?
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Yes, after all Renault's turbo engine was the pinnacle of this thinking, although the BMW turbo engine gave it a good run for it's money in that area as well... :lol:
 
marcos_eirik said:
Yes, after all Renault's turbo engine was the pinnacle of this thinking, although the BMW turbo engine gave it a good run for it's money in that area as well... :lol:
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The actual pinnacle of this was the 70-degree lay-down BMW straight-4. Used to seize up for "no reason" when going through a fast corner...
 
Williams unfazed by KERS cost

Saturday, 09 August 2008 14:36


Williams is not worried about the cost of developing its Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for 2009 and is keen to push ahead with the new technology.

KERS is currently a hot topic in the Formula 1 paddock after some of the team bosses requested its introduction was delayed until after 2009, due to worries over safety and cost.

However, Williams CEO Adam Parr said that his team does not see the development of the technology as a financial burden.

?The only change in ?09 that effects the costing is KERS,? Parr told Formula1.com.

?I don?t mind saying that our budget for KERS is 10 per cent of our budget for aerodynamics and composite parts, so it?s not a huge amount of money and we see it as a fantastic investment into the future of the sport.?

Williams, along with BMW and Honda, was part of a triumvirate of teams opposed to postponing the introduction of the technology, a possibility that was muted when the F1 team bosses met at the Hungoraring prior to the last grand prix.

Due to the opposition from these three teams the introduction of KERS will still go ahead next year, as a unanimous agreement was needed to enforce a delay.

One of the teams less enthusiastic about the introduction of KERS for next year is Red Bull Racing.

Its boss Christian Horner was quoted by Formula1.com as saying: ?For us, KERS is part of the regulations so it is something that we will do.

?It is extremely costly and as we are an independent team we don?t have the resources to develop like a manufacturer has.?

Horner also said he feared that KERS could become a ?big performance differentiator?, but Parr disagrees.

?Looking at it from a competitive side, I don?t see it as a potential performance differentiator,? he said.

?Overall we think it is the kind of thing we should be doing in Formula 1, as it maybe has a wider significance than only in Formula 1.?

Williams is thought to be well advanced with its KERS technology ? opting for a system that uses a flywheel to store energy rather than a super-capacitor battery, which has been adopted by the majority of teams.
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Source

I'm interested in seeing if the flywheel system Williams is working on will be better then the battery system most of the other teams are working on. As KERS is about being more environmentally friendly, the flywheel system achieves that a lot better then the batteries.
 
I doubt any of the teams care about how it is to the environment. The real question is, which is faster?
 
^ Yeah, that is true, the last thing the teams would be worried about is the environment.
 
Lewis Hamilton said:
?In a way, the result in Hungary was a very important lesson for the team: it showed us in no uncertain terms that we cannot afford to be complacent and need to work hard throughout the summer break to make sure we can hit back strongly in Valencia,? Hamilton recently told his official website.
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Gee Lewis, you dont think the 1000 odd people back at Woking know this? Lucky thing they hadn't planned on going on holiday during this break....:p

It always amuses me when news sites post those kind of articles, just a waste of space and bandwidth if you ask me.
 
Red_Bull said:
Gee Lewis, you dont think the 1000 odd people back at Woking know this? Lucky thing they hadn't planned on going on holiday during this break....:p

It always amuses me when news sites post those kind of articles, just a waste of space and bandwidth if you ask me.
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Same here, happens in all sports & with all participants - the usual keep-yourself-in-the-media-without-actually-saying-anything-worthwhile deal. Much like Toyota's annual "this year we'll be contenders" media release... :p
 
ITV cleared over 'pikey' comment

Martin Brundle is a former Formula One driver

ITV has escaped punishment after the word "pikey" - a slang term for gypsy - was used in a sports broadcast in June.

Host Martin Brundle was interviewing Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone before the Canadian Grand Prix, where part of the track had crumbled.

"There are some pikeys there at turn 10 putting tarmac down - what do you think of that," he asked.

Media regulator Ofcom said it would take no action after ITV apologised and addressed the issue with its presenter.

The broadcaster argued that "pikey" was now used more widely but conceded that it still remains a derogatory term.

It added that Brundle was unaware of the potential racial or ethnic connotations and so had not meant to cause any offence towards the travelling communities.

After the show ITV received 22 complaints from viewers over the remark while Ofcom received 14.

Brundle was a Formula One driver throughout the 1980s and 1990s and has won awards for his work as a commentator for ITV.

He is known for his "walk-and-talk" technique, where he prowls around the starting grid before races to interview drivers and celebrity spectators.
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Source

Good - never should have been investigated in the first place.
 
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/70082

Teams trying to save summer break

By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, August 26th 2008, 11:12 GMT

Formula One team managers have been asked by their bosses to look into the best way to reshuffle next year's calendar to try and continue the tradition of a summer break, autosport.com has learned.

Next year's schedule runs from the end of March until mid-November, but does not include a three-week gap in the summer that has been a feature of recent calendars.

That move has led to concern from some teams, who fear that they may have to start paying out to rotate team members in a bid not to cause burn-out among their staff.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said recently: "This break is absolutely essential for all the people who travel. They don't get the right amount of time with their families and this gives them an opportunity to have at least one week where they are not at the office or workshop.

"It's a key ingredient of keeping people motivated and happy when you are addressing the calendar, which makes next year's difficult for them. We will have to accommodate that by rotating people. They will not be expected to go right through the season."

Concerns about the cost implications of such a move were discussed in Valencia by team principals, who have agreed to try and come up with some way of reshuffling dates to create a bigger gap in the calendar.

It was agreed that team managers should be given the task of trying to work out how best to come up with a solution, as they were more aware of the logistical requirements of ferrying men and equipment to races than team principals.

An initial idea of stretching the calendar out by moving the Australian Grand Prix forward has been ruled out by Bernie Ecclestone, however, because the March 29 date will ensure a better television audience for the race in Europe as it coincides with the hour change switch to British Summer Time.

It is understood that the focus is now on trying to achieve a gap by revising the dates of either the 2009 German, Hungarian or Turkish Grands Prix.

One possibility is to make Germany and Hungary back-to-back on July 12th and 19th, with Turkey then moving forward to August 2nd. This would then provide a gap before the Valencia race on August 23.

Toyota team president John Howett told autosport.com: "We seem to have a long break at the beginning of the season and no summer break. There should be more discussion to optimise the race schedule in terms of the burden to the teams."
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WTF was Bernie thinking while making up the 2009 calendar?
 
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