2009 Formula 1 Pre-Season Thread

:lmao: @ Toro Rosso, got to love their sense of humour.

The official Williams livery is not very good, that Blue is horrid and there is two much white for my liking.
 
Kyle Busch open to F1 future
By Diego Mejia Saturday, February 28th 2009, 07:41 GMT

NASCAR star Kyle Busch says he would like to try competing in Formula One, amid speculation linking him as a candidate to drive for USF1.

The 23-year-old, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup series, was one of several American drivers mentioned by Peter Windsor last Tuesday during the launch of USF1 in Charlotte.

Busch admits he would like to get a proper opportunity to drive one day in Formula One to see if he has a future in racing beyond NASCAR.

"It's something I'd love to take a shot at one day," Busch told reporters at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, where he qualified on pole for Sunday's Sprint Cup race. "Hopefully, one of these days I'll get a chance to drive one and see if I'm good at it."

However, Busch doesn't reckon it's yet time for him to leave NASCAR in pursuit of a possible future in F1. First he would like to become champion in the Sprint Cup series, where he would like to return once he has tried out F1.

"It's not quite time for me to do that yet," he said. "If I could win a championship here in the next two or three years, then I wouldn't mind going over there and doing that, trying it for a few years and coming back.

"I think I would still be young enough where, if I could win a championship by 25, go run Formula One for a couple of years and be back by 28, I've still got plenty of time left to run in NASCAR."

The Vegas-native believes it would be easier for him to adapt to an F1 car than it has been for drivers coming from open-wheel racing to master the heavier, slow-reacting stock cars.

"I feel like it's probably easier to go that route than it is for those guys to come to this route because these cars have less downforce, less grip, more weight on the car, less technical advancements and stuff like that," said Busch.

"To me it seems like it would be a lot easier to drive a car that's fully equipped. It's kind of like getting in a Volkswagen Beetle versus a Ferrari. Those are kind of the differences."

Busch was expected to drive a Toyota F1 car last winter in Japan, but his run was called off because he was required to attend the clashing Nationwide Series awards event.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73468
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Sorry, but a NASCAR driver in F1. Maybe the other way but nascar to f1, just no thanks.
 
Yeah, there's just no way that can ever work. I'm not saying Nascar drivers are shit, I'm just saying that it's a very different type of racing that require different skills...
 
I also don't get how he claims it would be easier for a NASCAR driver to go in to F1 instead of the other way round...
I mean, to an F1 driver NASCAR must seem like slowmotion, right? :p
 
Reason is that Nascar Cup cars are very heavy and well are difficult to get to drive in the exact spot you need them to be. Also these guys especially the younger guys like Busch and Edwards are really fit don't under estimate them and say that they require a "different skill" it's freaking driving.
 
devil500 said:
Reason is that Nascar Cup cars are very heavy and well are difficult to get to drive in the exact spot you need them to be. Also these guys especially the younger guys like Busch and Edwards are really fit don't under estimate them and say that they require a "different skill" it's freaking driving.
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Yeah, but its freaking driving with everything at least doubled. Double the g force, way more speed in the corners (won't go into turning both ways), power to weight ratio is hugely different, braking is immense. Everything about F1 is more intense then other parts of Motor Sport, especially NASCAR.

Not saying that the NASCAR guys couldn't handle it. Just saying that its not easier to go from NASCAR to F1 then vice versa. Take the segment of Hammond trying to drive the F1 car. He could barely get it going fast enough to even keep the tires and brakes warm. I get the feeling that he (or the average layperson) could get into a NASCAR car and at least get it up to temp and going at a reasonable speed.

Of course it takes more to win it and do well, but they are still very very different sports. There is a reason why most F1 drivers work their way up through the Formulas and get a progression of increasingly more aggressive cars. Its just a different world. One which I wish was more present in the States then it is. Lots of talent, they just grow up doing it different then Europe and the rest of the world.

JH
 
Moving off USF1 and onto the "Mark Webber Leg Development Programme"...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73474

Webber upbeat after private RBR test

By Matt Beer Saturday, February 28th 2009, 15:51 GMT

Red Bull Racing completed an additional four-day private test at Valencia this week, with Mark Webber reporting good progress with his recovery from a broken leg after two days of driving.

The team launched their 2009 car several weeks later than most of the other front-runners. Although they were adamant that the additional time spent in the design process would make up for the missed track mileage, they have now recouped some of their testing disadvantage thanks to this week's low-key session.

Webber drove for the first two days, and was positive about his fitness as he continues to recover from the injuries sustained in a cycling accident last November.

"I'd say the car development is coming on well and so is the Mark Webber Leg Development programme," he said.

"This was the first time I've driven for two days in a row and that went well and there were no ill effects afterwards.

"The leg is getting more and more normal with every passing day and hopefully, by the time we get to Melbourne, I should have the equivalent of six or seven grand prix distances under my belt."

He added that Red Bull's work at Valencia had included some particular attention to Australian Grand Prix preparations.

"We worked through some stuff that was a bit more specific to Melbourne, as the Valencia track is pretty good for this, being quite easy on rear tyres," said Webber.

His teammate Sebastian Vettel took over for the second half of the test, but was unwilling to make predictions about Red Bull's progress.

"We have done a lot of laps, but we must continue to work hard at the upcoming tests," he said. "Really, it won't be until we all run in Australia that we will see where we are compared to the others."

The team did not release any times from the test.
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THE REAL STIG said:
Yeah, there's just no way that can ever work. I'm not saying Nascar drivers are shit, I'm just saying that it's a very different type of racing that require different skills...
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There are plenty of NASCAR drivers who made the switch to IndyCar and do fine.

A driver who is successful in NASCAR will be able to make the switch. Feeling a car is feeling a car and that's the biggest point in racing. Anyone can make an adjustment to speed if they know how to drive a tire. A switch from F1 to tin tops would be somewhat easy, but a switch from tin tops to F1 won't exactly be extremely difficult either. All drivers face a learning curve every time they drive something new and weather you're going from Legends to ARCA or Formula Renault to F3 or GTs to Prototypes or karts to club racing, you're going to need to put the same brainpower behind learning the new car. It won't be a problem for someone used to moving up in ranks.

You also can't deny that the USA's best drivers are almost all in NASCAR.

I've said it a million times before and I'll say it again: USF1 will get at least one of their drivers from NASCAR.
 
MadCat360 said:
There are plenty of NASCAR drivers who made the switch to IndyCar and do fine.

A driver who is successful in NASCAR will be able to make the switch. Feeling a car is feeling a car and that's the biggest point in racing. Anyone can make an adjustment to speed if they know how to drive a tire. A switch from F1 to tin tops would be somewhat easy, but a switch from tin tops to F1 won't exactly be extremely difficult either. All drivers face a learning curve every time they drive something new and weather you're going from Legends to ARCA or Formula Renault to F3 or GTs to Prototypes or karts to club racing, you're going to need to put the same brainpower behind learning the new car. It won't be a problem for someone used to moving up in ranks.

You also can't deny that the USA's best drivers are almost all in NASCAR.

I've said it a million times before and I'll say it again: USF1 will get at least one of their drivers from NASCAR.
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Good post, I think people here seriously underestimate how difficult Nascar is. You only have to look at how all the open wheel converts are doing to see that it isn't as easy as some of you think. When Jeff Gordon tested JPM's 2003 Williams, he was within 1.5 seconds of Juan's time. Some of you will think of the gaps of time in F1 and go "OMFG THAT'S SO SLOW" but you need to consider, that was the first ever time Jeff drove an F1, he had less than 20 laps, and he had to relearn a car and explore what it could do, not to mention his first time driving that track. If Jeff had several days of testing and hundreds of laps, you can bet that he would be on the pace, it's just the talent and experience he has as a top racing driver.
 
McLaren's new rear wing:

05TG0010XFHAIO0FTKWE903XBZ41_450.jpg
 
I have to say that Mclaren seem to have evaded the ugly factor with those wings....front and back they seem fine and the car looks good in general.
 
Their testing times on the other hand are scary...they are 5 seconds slower than the rest all day, the closest they came was 3 seconds...they must be running a radically different program...
 
Holy shit, look at that amount of graining! The end of a stint and those Schuey-esque pushes to get ahead of someone during a pitstop are going to be a lot tougher.
 
Yeah, that's a lot of graining in the middle of the McLaren's tyre. I'm genuinely interested to see what McLaren have to say about their shit lap times...
 
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