2008 Formula 1 Pre-Season Thread

:woot: 2nd!!

Dont forget, Nico Hulkenberg once said "Im not the next Michael Schumacher, Im the first Nico Hulkenberg"

Smart kid!
 
Don't get your hopes up. It's still the 07 car, which we know to be hugely slow. So the times are clearly better because of the slicks....
 
Jerez Day 2, Hamilton tops the times.
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/testresults.php?testID=806
1 L. Hamilton McLaren Bridgestone 01:19.371 73
2 D. Coulthard Red Bull Bridgestone 01:19.421 80
3 F. Massa Ferrari Bridgestone 01:19.761 97
4 K. R?ikk?nen Ferrari Bridgestone 01:19.779 87
5 P. de la Rosa McLaren Bridgestone 01:19.887 62
6 N. Piquet jr. Renault Bridgestone 01:19.982 71
7 C. Klien Force India F1 Bridgestone 01:20.187 86
8 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso Bridgestone 01:20.398 57
9 G. Fisichella Force India F1 Bridgestone 01:20.470 102
10 R. Kubica BMW Bridgestone 01:20.487 118
11 T. Glock Toyota Bridgestone 01:20.523 54
12 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso Bridgestone 01:20.533 75
13 N. Rosberg Williams Bridgestone 01:20.671 66
14 A. Zuber Super Aguri Bridgestone 01:20.897 109
15 M. Webber Red Bull Bridgestone 01:20.944 41
16 N. Hulkenberg Williams Bridgestone 01:21.068 67
17 A. Davidson Super Aguri Bridgestone 01:21.076 74
18 R. Barrichello Honda Bridgestone 01:21.184 103
19 K. Kobayashi Toyota Bridgestone 01:21.699 118
20 N. Heidfeld BMW Bridgestone 01:22.875 93
Click to expand...
 
Heidfeld: F1 wil be extremely dangerous in 2009

05 December 2007

Nick Heidfeld was not amused at the end of Wednesday's test at Jerez after having tested slicks and a 2009-spec aero package in his BMW. The 2009 rules cut downforce by half, and with slicks that are not up to temperature Heidfeld has warned of serious dangers.

Speaking with GPUpdate.net he said about his day of testing: "Today, we ran with the 2009 downforce package, which will be around half as effective as the one we're driving with this season. If the slicks return, they won't give as much grip as you'd expect as we will also lose grip as there is less downforce, so we will be slower in 2009."

"If it will stay like this and the tyres will stay like this, it will be extremely dangerous in 2009," he warned. "On my outlap I even thought about coming back in, because there were so many drivers flying past me. You feel like you're standing still compared to the others and it's very easy to spin the car. It's very, very dangerous."

Heidfeld suggested a better tyre might be the answer for more downforce in 2009 but isn't sure if that is going to happen. "Bridgestone could turn this around by making better tyres, but the question is: does it make sense for them?" Heidfeld said. "If there's another tyre supplier and there is competition, it would be solved. If the tyres become softer, it will help a lot. But I'm not a tyre expert, maybe the mixture of the compound should change, but like this, it will be extremely dangerous. They should change the tyres, or they should allow tyre heaters for 2009."

Next season the FIA will ban traction control on cars to make the races more exciting. But with the aero rules for 2009 and perhaps the return of slicks Heidfeld believes things won't get much easier. "Without traction control it's even worse, but if we would run with traction control (in 2009), it would still be very, very difficult. Even if the tyres are hot, you have so little grip with the new package. We have too much power and too little grip. I don't like it at all," a disappointed Heidfeld said.
Click to expand...

Source

Pretty interesting view he has there, I hope if it's real that something is done about it.



Prodrive not guaranteed 2009 spot

Wednesday, 05, December, 2007, 15:10

FIA president Max Mosley has revealed that Prodrive has no guaranteed place on the 2009 grid after it decided to drop its planned entry next year.

David Richard?s outfit was due to become the grid?s 12th team in 2008 and had planned to run customer McLaren-Mercedes under new regulations that were expected to be implemented for next season.

But following a legal challenge from Williams and the failure of teams to agree a new ?Concorde Agreement? outlining F1?s future commercial distribution, Prodrive announced last month that it had shelved its plans to enter next March.

But although Prodrive says it remains committed to entering F1 at some point in the future, Mosley says the sport?s governing body has not reserved it a spot for 2009 and that if it was ready to enter then, it would have to reapply for the place.

?That?s it [for 2008] ? but there?s nothing to stop them entering for 2009,? he said in an interview with The Paddock magazine.

?At the request of his financial backers, David [Richards] asked me what guarantee could we give that his entry would be accepted in 2009.

?I had to tell him that he didn?t have any guarantee.

?In the normal course of events, Prodrive?s entry would be accepted [again], but the situation without the Concorde Agreement is as it was before the Concorde Agreement ? people submit entries, and the FIA accepts or rejects them.?

Mosley says it is highly unlikely that the Banbury-based outfit will face any penalty for not taking its place on the grid in Australia next March.

But he concedes it will probably forfeit its 300,000 euro (?216,611) entry fee.

?They couldn?t say anything about the goalposts moving,? he said.

?They entered under the regulations, and they entered for one year.

?They?ve paid the ?300,000, and they?ll probably lose that.

?But that?s probably it.

?I don?t think anybody is going to go after them.

?If Prodrive could be there, they would be there, but they haven?t got the backing [of all the other teams].?
Click to expand...

Source

That's pretty stupid in my view, Prodrive will have to think twice now about investing in developing an F1 car if they aren't guaranteed to keep their spot in the field. How does Max expect to get new teams to join the field if they aren't guaranteed a spot and by the time they find out they are successful don't have enough time to design a decent car.
 
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I expect Eddie Jordan to be running around behind the scenes trying to get Jordan back into F1 now. I think Prodrive will think twice now about F1 because of the political bullshit thrown up by Williams.

And dont forget, when DR was running BAR, he wasnt the most popular team leader around the paddock.
 
In my view, Heidfeld cant handle full slicks, and wants to keep the grooves cos he has a better chance.

So yes, he should harden up.
 
You know when I hear that kind of talk from a driver - I take it as a sign he's losing his edge.
 
DaShowstoppa said:
You know when I hear that kind of talk from a driver - I take it as a sign he's losing his edge.
Click to expand...

Massa has been blabbing on in the same way about how F1 will be more dangerous without TC... he never actually drove a F1 car in a race so far without TC; he came into F1 in 2002, and TC was re-allowed in 2001 after Imola.
So yeah, I think these guys fear that they might be losing it.
 
Today's testing results:

Circuito Permanente de Jerez - Spain 6 December 2007
Pos. Driver Team Tires Time Laps
1 R. Kubica BMW Bridgestone 01:19.157 87
2 L. Hamilton McLaren Bridgestone 01:19.331 64
3 F. Massa Ferrari Bridgestone 01:19.333 68
4 M. Webber Red Bull Bridgestone 01:19.605 63
5 T. Glock Toyota Bridgestone 01:19.687 40
6 P. de la Rosa McLaren Bridgestone 01:19.787 75
7 N. Piquet jr. Renault Bridgestone 01:19.834 90
8 M. Schumacher Ferrari Bridgestone 01:19.885 67
9 R. Barrichello Honda Bridgestone 01:19.905 89
10 N. Heidfeld BMW Bridgestone 01:20.125 87
11 N. Rosberg Williams Bridgestone 01:20.301 65
12 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso Bridgestone 01:20.339 56
13 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso Bridgestone 01:20.507 55
14 J. Trulli Toyota Bridgestone 01:20.775 99
15 K. Nakajima Williams Bridgestone 01:20.802 39
16 L. Filippi Honda Bridgestone 01:20.915 83
17 D. Coulthard Red Bull Bridgestone 01:21.055 62
18 T. Sato Super Aguri Bridgestone 01:21.093 79
19 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 Bridgestone 01:21.194 76
20 R. Schumacher Force India F1 Bridgestone 01:21.853 71

I'm gussing Kubica was on slicks, and something must've happened to Schumacher cause he's so low down....I was looking forward to Schumi vs Hamilton, but Schumi's low down for some reason...
 
and the OTHER schumacher??? LAST LAST LAST LAST LAST LAST LLLLAAASSSTTTT!!!! hahahahaha

Heidfeld you are a big fucking girl, that is the biggest piece of shit I have ever heard. I am getting really tired of this "dangerous" thing just because things are a bit tricky. No driver died from having a tricky car to drive, people died because the circuits were dangerous and the cars were flimsy. All the IndyCar pilots must be looking at him and saying "what a fucking girl", they have 750hp, slicks and not as much aero.
 
THE REAL STIG said:
Today's testing results:

I'm gussing Kubica was on slicks, and something must've happened to Schumacher cause he's so low down....I was looking forward to Schumi vs Hamilton, but Schumi's low down for some reason...
Click to expand...

nope Kubica was on grooves (from the pictures I saw and the lack of mentioning it in the description).

The testing session was red flagged many times, because of spin and technical problems. Maybe that contributed to Michael slow time. Don't know.
 
kubica was on slicks. to be honest its quite hard to judge the times cos most people with slicks seemed to be running 2009 aero.
 
Boohoo, Heidfeld, grow a pair and race like a man! You're in F1, for crying out loud!
 
Its ironic as Heidfeld is known for not exactly being a girly man. Remember Goodwood 1999??
 
I read somewhere Michael was on Slicks, but was testing with the new aero package. Maybe he just decided to ease off so people stop pressuring him to come back to F1.

Anyway, poor Ralph, he must be feeling mighty depressed.
 
Necx0 said:
Heidfeld you are a big fucking girl, that is the biggest piece of shit I have ever heard. I am getting really tired of this "dangerous" thing just because things are a bit tricky. No driver died from having a tricky car to drive, people died because the circuits were dangerous and the cars were flimsy. All the IndyCar pilots must be looking at him and saying "what a fucking girl", they have 750hp, slicks and not as much aero.
Click to expand...

Yeah and a nice concrete wall around the outside of the track.
 
And IndyCar drivers have no corners to deal with either...
 
yes they do. Left corners.
 
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