Official Discussion Thread of the 2009 Formula 1 Season

When I was streaming the BBC online, to be honest Legard wasn't bad, much better than the cock.

I agree with you on that one. I mean, it's not as if he has been commentating F1 races for TV for years before, now has he? It's just his second race, and I think he's doing relatively well. To all the others: Give him some time, it's already obvious that he and MB are starting to gel together.
 
AFCA:

Ferrari: The lower wishbones are attached to the chassis too high. The gearbox casing is too wide. Costa reckons it will take six races before the entire rear end has been changed. The earliest possible GP would be that of Turkey.

McLaren: The team plans to introduce a temporary solution with a double floor in China. McLaren has been working on two diffuser programmes parallelly. Whitmarsh: ''We will have an 80% solution in the middle of May. In te summer the second phase will come. For this intervention we have to modify the gearbox and the rear suspension.''

Red Bull: The are of the locating points of the pull rods in the way. The rearend crash structure would have to be completely redesigned as well. At the earliest the team could come up with a new solution in Turkey.

Scuderia Toro Rosso: RBR has priority and STR is normally one development stage behind. For them it will take an even longer time.

BMW-Sauber: Things look a bit more positive here. There's not an exact timetable but the team said: ''We will have something come Barcelona.'' It will probably only be a temporary solution though.

Renault: The team has been working on a double-decker diffuser for a longer time. Like McLaren, Renault is willing to introduce a temporary solution before Barcelona still.

Force India: The VJM002 can relatively easily be modified for the new diffuser. The next aerodynamic package is to be introduced in Barclona, a new diffuser will probably be a part of that.
 
This is looking good for McLaren...:)
 
Ask the Expert - BMW Sauber?s Robert Kubica

When did BMW build their first motor vehicle? Who played ?The Dude? in cult bowling film ?The Big Lebowski?? Who are the three most famous Poles of all time? And how long did it take snooker?s Ronnie O?Sullivan to complete a 147 maximum break? These are just some of the questions we thought BMW Sauber?s Robert Kubica would take in his stride after he agreed to be the latest participant in our trivia-testing ?Ask the Expert? series. But how did he fare? Find out here?

Q: Approximately how many Polish people watch you race every week?
Robert Kubica: More than three million? That would be my guess, but I haven?t looked at the figures lately.
A modest answer, but sadly incorrect - the real number is up to four million people, more than 10 percent of the population.

Q: Polish television sports reporter Tomasz Lorek placed you fourth in a list of most famous Poles of all time. Who was ahead of you in the ranking?
RK: Sure the Pope and Lech Walesa - and, as that particular reporter loves speedway, it?s surely somebody from there.
Two out of three ain?t bad - the reporter actually said: ?I would estimate that he is the fourth most famous Pole of all time in terms of worldwide fame, behind the last Pope, Lech Walesa, and maybe the chemist lady, Marie Sklodowska [better known to the non-Polish world as Marie Curie]?.

Q: For how many years has your boss Dr Mario Theissen worked for BMW?
RK: It must be a long time. How old is he now? 56. If he started when he was around 25 that should make it 31 years.
Close enough for half a mark - the actual answer is 32.

Q: In poker, what does the term ?ducks? stand for?
RK: A pair of twos! That?s an easy one.
Correct

Q: You?re a fan of bowling, but which pin is commonly known as the kingpin?
RK: The central pin. Another easy one!
Correct

Q: How many pairs of sunglasses does your team mate Nick Heidfeld own?
RK: Oh! Only last weekend he had seven different pairs. Must be around 30, for sure.
Correct - Kubica clearly knows his team mate well, 30 is indeed the correct answer after we questioned Heidfeld

Q: If you search your name on Google, can you guess how many results it brings up?
RK: I?ve no clue!
Incorrect - modesty won?t get you anywhere in this game - last time we checked the answer was 2,780,000.

Q: In 2005 you won the Renault World Series, how many victories did you score that season?
RK: Four.
Correct

Q: When, where and in what series did you win your first single-seater victory?
RK: Formula Renault 2002 in Vallelunga in April.
Correct

Q: How much does an official Robert Kubica cap cost on BMW Sauber?s website?
RK: Too expensive! 20 Euro?
Incorrect the price is actually 25 Euro

Q: What are Nick Heidfeld?s two children called?
RK: Juni and Joda
Correct

Q: You are a big fan of world rally champion Sebastien Loeb. But who is his long-time co-driver?
RK: A Monegasque. Daniel Elena
Correct

Q: Christian Klien is sitting on the bench again this year as BMW Sauber?s third driver, but how many Grands Prix has he started during his Formula One career?
RK: Christian? Something around 48?
Very close, so half marks - it?s actually 46

Q: Although BMW originally developed aircraft engines, when did the company build its first motor vehicle?
RK: Around 80 years ago?
Again, close enough for half marks - they built their first motorbike in 1923, but became an automobile manufacturer in 1928.

Q: BMW boasts a striking headquarters in Munich, what is the design of the building meant to represent?
RK: Engine cylinders
Correct - four of them in fact.

Q: You are a fan of snooker?s Ronnie ?Rocket? O?Sullivan, who holds the record for the fastest 147 maximum break. How long did it take him?
RK: That is easy - 5 minutes 20 seconds.
Correct - O?Sullivan?s achievement took place in the first round of the 1997 World Championship.

Q: Coming back to bowling, in the classic bowling movie ?The Big Lebowski?, who plays Jeff Lebowski, more commonly known as ?The Dude??
RK: I don?t know.
Incorrect - it was Jeff Bridges.

Q: You still love karting, and you lived in Italy for quite a while. Which Italian is the current world karting champion?
RK: Marco Ardigo
Correct - he won the title in 2007 and 2008.

Q: Staying on an Italian theme, what is BMW?s connection to the recent remake of the classic car film ?The Italian Job??
RK: Can you repeat that? No idea.
Incorrect - it featured three new Minis as the getaway cars and the Mini is made by BMW.

Q: Your race debut came in Hungary 2006 after Jacques Villeneuve left the team. Where did Villeneuve finish on his race debut in Australia 1996?
RK: I know this one - it was not bad. He nearly won! Second
Correct - he finished second, having started from pole for Williams.

Final score: 17.5 points from a possible 25
Ask the Expert rating: 70%

Current leader board:
1. Robert Kubica - 70%
1. Sebastian Vettel - 64%
2. Nick Heidfeld - 57%

More drivers coming soon.


I'm loving these interviews!
 
This pace of interviews is a sure sign that the Kimster shall NOT be spared the wrath of the "Ask the Expert" interviewer... :lol: Maybe they know that it will take them about 3 weeks to decipher his answers!


P.S. Holy crap, Heidfeld wears 30 different pairs of sunglasses????????
 
This pace of interviews is a sure sign that the Kimster shall NOT be spared the wrath of the "Ask the Expert" interviewer... :lol: Maybe they know that it will take them about 3 weeks to decipher his answers!


P.S. Holy crap, Heidfeld wears 30 different pairs of sunglasses????????

Uh huh.

nick_heidfeld_sunglasses.jpg


BMW+Sauber+Formula+One+driver+Nick+Heidfeld.jpg


46876_2.jpg




Apparently Trulli has a watch collection too.
 
hehehe.. I remember that interview with Vettel where he says "I'm not interested in men's clothing" hahahaha
 
I think he probably just meant to say "I'm not interested in fashion. I just wear whatever covers my sausage and teats."
 
GPDA boosts membership with Massa

By Jonathan Noble Saturday, April 11th 2009, 12:42 GMT

The Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) has succeeded in boosting its membership numbers by convincing previous high-profile sceptics, including Felipe Massa and Adrian Sutil, to join the organisation, AUTOSPORT can reveal.

With the GPDA having endured a difficult 2008, with world championship frontrunners Lewis Hamilton, Massa and Kimi Raikkonen not members, its chairman Pedro de la Rosa together with directors Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber worked hard throughout last winter to get the doubters back on board.

With big progress being made on the eve of the season as Hamilton signed up to the GPDA for the first time since he entered F1 in 2007, AUTOSPORT has learned that Massa and Sutil also agreed to become members at the same time.

With a host of reserve drivers and F1 rookie Sebastien Buemi also joining up, it means that Kimi Raikkonen is now the only regular driver who has not yet agreed to become a member.

De la Rosa said he was delighted that the likes of Hamilton and Massa were now on board - which comes after a winter when the GPDA helped agree with the FIA a reduction in super licence fees for all drivers.

"It is important we are all there," de la Rosa told AUTOSPORT. "It is great news that Lewis, Felipe and Adrian have come on board, but also that test drivers like Christian Klien are there too, and new drivers like Buemi. It's quite reassuring.

"I admit we were weak last year, especially when Felipe left. But he has come back, and I'm glad he has. I'm really delighted about Lewis being there too."

De la Rosa said he hoped Raikkonen, who is still considering becoming a member, would also sign up to ensure that every driver on the grid is in the GPDA.

"We wish Kimi was there, as he is one of the top guys, so hopefully he will agree soon too," said the Spaniard.

"The GPDA is an important organisation. Although the drivers fight each other on the track, we must be able to work together off it to solve problems. I believe the GPDA today is stronger than ever."

Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74406
 
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74409

Article 3.12.5 of F1's technical regulations states: "Fully enclosed holes are permitted in the surfaces lying on the reference and step planes provided no part of the car is visible through them when viewed from directly below."

The three teams at the centre of the dispute claim that breaks in the floor of their car are not holes, but gaps between the step and reference planes of the car - so exempt from the requirement that no part of the car be visible through them.

Not looking quite so clear cut for the diffuser teams.. (rest of that article is Ferrari FUD)

Well, two of them anyway, IIRC Toyota don't have the extra holes, they just have a deeper conventional diffuser.
 
Since it's Rory Byrne, a Ferrari man, who said this (and poured more fuel on the diffuser debate fire), then the chances of the diffusers being banned increase.


Let's just hope they're not stupid enough to retroactively disqualify all 6 DD cars from AUS and MAL. The FIA did disqualify retroactively in 1984, though... let's not forget about the Tyrrell lead buckshot debacle.
 
Last edited:
Top