2008 Formula 1 Season Thread

i hate bernie, ever since i started watching, I have wondered - what does he do.. but money grub at the expense of racing and the fans that love it. the best thing for the sport is for him to roll over and die, with him giving his 2.8 billion to the sport that he once loved; before he shrunk and grew a toupe looking haircut that swishes as he walks. How can he cancel races because they can't line his pockets.. All the behind the scenes political BS starts with him.

if I had been a canadian organizer, who had already starting planning next years GP, then opened my newspaper to see that it had been cancelled.. And I noticed that my funding allocations just got royally F*ed, and a large event of one of my major cities which brought in tourism and additional revenues - i'd hunt that troll of an old man down.. after spending a few drunk days at the track.

i too was hoping to go next season. 2 good straight races, in combination with me just moving out here.. I was so excited, but now.. i will go up to the roof and curse bernie for the pain he has inflicted on me and throw my kubica bust over the side in a fit of agony.
 
i am so pissed off about this i can barely put two sentences together. way to make it perfectly clear how little you care about not only the traditions of motorsport, bernie, but also every single north american f1 fan. montreal is one of the few tracks left on the calendar that provides an exciting race, a chance for us n.a. fans to watch without having to get up at the crack of stupid every other sunday morning, and a possibility of one day attending a grand prix. not to mention all the teams and drivers have been quoted many times as saying they absolutely love coming to montreal.

it really is all about the money, and not what used to be a great sport.
:mad:
 
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i hate bernie, ever since i started watching, I have wondered - what does he do.. but money grub at the expense of racing and the fans that love it. the best thing for the sport is for him to roll over and die, with him giving his 2.8 billion to the sport that he once loved; before he shrunk and grew a toupe looking haircut that swishes as he walks. How can he cancel races because they can't line his pockets.. All the behind the scenes political BS starts with him.

He did a lot of good for the sport back in the late seventies and eighties and turned it into the world's most prestigious, premier racing series. Since then however...:thumbsdown:

Use the 2005 Indy Grand Prix as a case point. In the old days, Ecclestone would've banged his fist on the table, told everyone what was going to happen and the event would've gone ahead with no issues. If you listen between the lines of his interview he did on the grid of that race with Brundle, it is very telling what the state of modern F1 is in. He was visibly livid, but there was nothing he could do.

Ecclestone has built his empire so big to the point where he's no longer in supreme control and is merely a puppet in his own show. He's lost touch with what made F1 so successful in the first place and is only seeking the money that the Asian races can provide.
 
...you make it sound like Ecclestone is a mini-Napoleon...sounds about right...
 
Canada not expecting race reprieve

Wednesday, 08 October 2008 10:38

The Canadian motorsport authorities believe the FIA's decision to axe the 2009 Canadian Grand Prix is final, and cannot see their race getting a reprieve.

A revised 2009 calendar issued yesterday saw Montreal lose its June slot to the Turkish GP, which had been shifted from August to ensure that the now-traditional three-week summer break was maintained.

Roger Peart, president of the ASN Canada FIA, said he could not envisage the FIA going back on its shock decision now.

"It's a done deal," he was quoted as saying by the Montreal Gazette.

"It was voted on today by the world council and that's really the end of it."

The Canadian GP organisers issued a statement saying they could not comment on the race's removal from the calendar until they had discussed the situation with the FIA, but Peart believes the Montreal track could simply no longer compete with new venues like Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

"I'm surprised, but not completely," he said.

"The commercial side of the sport is moving on to more glamourous venues.

"I don't mean the city of Montreal as far as that, but the facilities themselves.

"Montreal are not world leaders anymore, so it's a purely commercial matter unfortunately."

Source

:sad:
 
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71237

F1 teams working to reinstate Canada

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, October 9th 2008, 10:30 GMT

Formula One team principals are set to hold talks about ways to get the Canadian Grand Prix back on the calendar in 2009, autosport.com has learned.

The race in Montreal was dropped from the schedule earlier this week, meaning F1 currently has no race in North America for the first time since the world championship came into existence in 1950.

Although there are suspicions that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone could be using the Canadian GP situation to improve the financial terms of holding the event, both from the promoters and the teams, there is genuine concern in the paddock about the impact of losing the race from the schedule.

Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry told autosport.com: "I don't think it is a short-term problem, but it is a problem that does need to be addressed. We are a global series and not to be performing in one of the major continents is a serious problem - even more so because it is a continent that is very important for the motor manufacturers who are involved in F1.

"We need to look at the north American continent situation from a more strategic point of view and work out how we increase our popularity. I don't think you can just look at one race ? you have to look at the whole situation there and put together a package which increases our appeal in North America. Then, the financial problems we have appearing at just one race in the continent, will go away."

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen added: "I haven't got any explanation of the decision and how it came about, so I think we will discuss it."

The decision to drop Canada and hand its June 7 date to Turkey was prompted by the teams' desire to have a summer break inserted into next year's calendar.

It is understood that one solution being looked at now is for Canada to return to its original date, and the Turkey event to then switch to early August, just one week after the Hungarian GP.

I hope this means that there is still hope.
 
Ecclestone outlines dramatic F1 engine plans
09 October 2008

Bernie Ecclestone has outlined a dramatic vision for the future of F1 in a bid to make the sport more affordable for new teams.

Ecclestone is working on a plan with FIA president Max Mosley in which a standard engine will be introduced for all cars and designed to last for half the season which they believe could reduce teams' engine costs by up to 90 per cent in two years.

The new proposals will be for a single, standard engine specification which each team will be able to build, but it will have to be identical to that of their rivals. Engine customer teams will have access to the same engine through an independent engine manufacturer.

The proposals are likely to be unpopular as many will see them cutting against the grain of F1 in which teams have always pushed development as hard as they can.

"The thing I'm most excited about is pushing and pushing the homologated engine idea," Ecclestone was quoted as saying by The Times newspaper. "The new engine will be equalised and there will only be two engine changes a year, so costs will come down dramatically."

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2008/10/09/ecclestone-outlines-dramatic-f1-engine-plans/

:barf::sick::sick::sick::sick:
 
Haven't we had a standard engine for most of the '70s (except for a couple of teams)?

COSWORTH DFV, ANYONE?

You can basically say that, excepting Ferrari and some other teams later on, this was the standard engine example that Bernie might be looking at for inspiration.
 

My reaction as well. However, as repugnant as the idea is and as much as I hate to admit it, deep down it's starting to make just the slightest sense. The US is in recession, and Europe probably isn't far behind either. F1 is not immune to the current economic downturn, particularly as the major players (Fiat, Daimler-Chrysler, Toyota, BMW, etc) all need to shift cars to maintain their equity. If people dont have the money to buy cars, then they lose their business, the shareholders walk away and the first thing to go will be the F1 program. Remember, capitalism only works when there is growth.
 
Haven't we had a standard engine for most of the '70s (except for a couple of teams)?

COSWORTH DFV, ANYONE?

You can basically say that, excepting Ferrari and some other teams later on, this was the standard engine example that Bernie might be looking at for inspiration.

It's a matter of choice vs. no choice.

I will go with choice.

The DFV was a monster. I love it to bits, but... I want to have the choice of which engine I want to put in my car, if you know what I mean.
 
While I completely understand & appreciate the need to contain costs & keep smaller independant teams competitive, I'm not for any control-engine formula - it just goes against the grain of what F1 is supposed to be about.
 
Government will try and safe Canadian Grand Prix

10 October 2008

Three levens of government agreed that they can't afford to lose the Canadian Grand Prix. Representatives of the federal, Quebec and municipal governments are to meet with Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone to get the race back on next year's calendar.

Earlier this week the FIA announced the 2009 Formula 1 calendar where the world could see the Canadian Grand Prix was dropped from the calendar because of commercial disagreements with the organizers of the event.

Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, federal Public Works Minister Michael Fortier and Quebec Tourism Minister Raymond Bachand met on Thursday with the vice-president of Grand Prix Canada, Paul Wilson.They now hope to meet with Ecclestone to save the event.

"What we will be discussing is a business deal," Montreal Mayor Tremblay said. "If we do nothing, it is gone.

Source
 
The government needs to get in touch with FOTA and work together, seeing that the teams don't want to lose the Canadian GP either. Here's crossing fingers that it works out :)
 
This is looking more and more like a classic Bernie ploy to extort more money out of a venue. :rolleyes:
 
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71385

Ferrari say KERS still behind schedule

By Michele Lostia and Pablo Elizalde Monday, October 13th 2008, 10:48 GMT

Ferrari's technical director Aldo Costa says the Italian squad are still behind schedule with the development of their Kinetic Energy Recovery System.

KERS will be introduced in F1 at the start of 2009, but the development has been hard for many teams, who had no previous experience of the technology.

Costa admitted he would have preferred to have tested the system on track already, like some of their rivals have done.

When asked what was the biggest challenge for next season, he said: "KERS because it's a technology never tried before, but work has been very intense on aerodynamics too.

"There have been reliability troubles," Costa told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I can't deny we are running a bit late. Let's say that I would like to have tried our system already."

He added: "We have a lot to do but time is short. Even though we have two weeks more compared to the past, we must follow the collective tests calendar. There's a test in mid January and we can't miss it.

"By fighting for the title we've put a lot of resources on the F2008, and now we find ourselves in the need to quickly make up for it. Most of the components are already in production, while the KERS is on the bench."

Costa also said next year's car will be strikingly different due to the radical new regulations that will come into play.

"The front wing will be striking because it will be as wide as the car's track (the distance between the wheels on the same axle). A lot of them will come off because, since they cover the wheels, it will be easy to lose them in crashes.

"On top of that, the rear wing will be taller and narrower, the bodywork smoother and more sealed off because we won't have the current liberty of opening air vents anymore, and this has forced us to heavily re-design the cooling system."


Can you say "delay in KERS introduction"?
 
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