F1 2004 - Let the race begin :D
- Thread starter Unknown Soldier
- Start date
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
Deepak said:
Whole of the rear wing disintigrated at the end of a fast straight. You saw it bend and flex until it just ripped itself off the car. No rear downforce, so no grip, so Raikonnen took a trip across the run-off area, and gravel trap before hitting a big tyrewall. He was doing about 190 mph, but luckily there was a lot of distance between the track and the barrier. He was mightily pissed off.
Unknown Soldier
Veteran
V3 said:
Why?? It's happened before, although not with Kimi.
I think the last time it happened was with Rubens last year... or was that the whole rear tire that broke away??
Anyways.. it has happened before.
US
Rear wing failure like that, without involving any previous collision, is first time I've seen it, in these new cars.
Its very dangerous if your car came apart like that, especially at the end of fast straight.
For Rubens, I think it was one of the front wheel, came off completely, or was that someone else. That's even more odd, since it was one of the safety requirement to design that the wheel should stay together, in event of collision. Ever since a marshal died a few years back, in Australia GP if I wasn't wrong.
Its very dangerous if your car came apart like that, especially at the end of fast straight.
For Rubens, I think it was one of the front wheel, came off completely, or was that someone else. That's even more odd, since it was one of the safety requirement to design that the wheel should stay together, in event of collision. Ever since a marshal died a few years back, in Australia GP if I wasn't wrong.
http://www.f1nutter.co.uk/stats/drivers/profile.php?DriverID=K_Raikkonen
maybe he just bends the wing a bit to test it first
[ check the 2002 spanish gp] .
BAR , Minardi have also had rear-wing failures before.... now the old trick was to allow the thing to bend so that it actually was a 'dynamic' wing,, but they introduced new tests to stop that.
-dave-
[edit]the wheels have tethers dont they (like irl/cart) ? so that even if the wheel does get free, at least it's got reduced energy
maybe he just bends the wing a bit to test it first
[ check the 2002 spanish gp] .
BAR , Minardi have also had rear-wing failures before.... now the old trick was to allow the thing to bend so that it actually was a 'dynamic' wing,, but they introduced new tests to stop that.
-dave-
[edit]the wheels have tethers dont they (like irl/cart) ? so that even if the wheel does get free, at least it's got reduced energy
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
V3 said:
Rear wings provide a huge amount of the downforce to hold the car down, so at top speed they are under massive strain, and have been known to break away. It's obviously an issue with either the Maclaren design or some kind of manufacturing fault. They'll probably just strengthen it for the next race.
V3 said:
Wheels are now cabled to the body of the car, but in a big enough accident, the wheel can still break away as the cable will snap. You can make the cable bigger and stronger so it won't break, but then all that will happen is the cable will break away from the body of the car along with the wheel. You would have to keep making everything bigger and stronger, but at high speed crashes where the gee-forces are very large, the weakest part of car will always break.
In fact, F1 cars are made to break in order to absorb a lot of the impact and disperse the kinetic energy of the crash. If you made a car so strong that nothing would break in a high speed impact, all that energy would go into smearing the driver across the inside of his unbreakable car.
Unknown Soldier
Veteran
Raikkonen dares English journo to back down
Kimi Raikkonen wants to grab a front-row seat at Silverstone when an English journalist pays dearly for betting that McLaren wouldn't win a race this season.
Raikkonen went about proving that journalist wrong on Sunday when he won the Belgian Grand Prix, beating the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. But while McLaren were celebrating their success there was one journalist who was dreading having to pay up.
In a moment of bravado the English journalist had vowed to run naked around the Silverstone circuit if McLaren won a race this year. And Raikkonen, the Belgian winner, wants to be there to watch that.
"I definitely will go," he said in the post-race press conference, "and hopefully it is raining heavily, so it will be even more fun."
Raikkonen added: "Let's hope that he will keep his word."
News Source: Planet-F1
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Dennis accuses the FIA of favouritism (again)
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has once again slammed the FIA for what he deems to be displaying favouritism towards Ferrari.
According to Dennis the new rules, especially those relating to long-life engines as well as tyres, which are expected to be implemented next season clearly favour Ferrari.
"The regulations proposed favour one team over another because of the circumstances they are in," Dennis told the BBC.
"If one team (Ferrari) has an engine that currently does 1,500km and another (McLaren) has one that does 500km and suddenly you've got a rule that the engine has to do two races, then you have a situation where those who are already close to that level have got a clear advantage."
"Similarly, if you've got a tyre that is very durable and has less degradation over the distance of a Grand Prix and then suddenly you've got a regulation that says we are only going to use one set of tyres for a Grand Prix, then that team is immediately at an advantage.
"Putting aside who gets what, that's deliberate and the key ingredient is how to destabilise the teams and take their focus aware from trying to create commercial stability."
However, an FIA spokesman says Dennis' accusations are "ridiculous". "Of all the ridiculous accusations that could be made against the FIA perhaps the most ridiculous is that we would want Ferrari to be more dominant," he said. "Did any of the people making these accusations actually watch the race in Hungary?"
"In reality the FIA's consultation with the teams on the new regulations has been very constructive. We understand that general agreement on the new regulations has already been reached. In that sense we feel that the consultation process has been very successful."
"It's to everyone's advantage to finalise the regulations sooner rather than later and we understand that most teams have already started working on designs for 2005 which meet the proposed regulations."
News Source: Planet-F1
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Geez Dennis .. ain't that getting a bit old??
Kimi Raikkonen wants to grab a front-row seat at Silverstone when an English journalist pays dearly for betting that McLaren wouldn't win a race this season.
Raikkonen went about proving that journalist wrong on Sunday when he won the Belgian Grand Prix, beating the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. But while McLaren were celebrating their success there was one journalist who was dreading having to pay up.
In a moment of bravado the English journalist had vowed to run naked around the Silverstone circuit if McLaren won a race this year. And Raikkonen, the Belgian winner, wants to be there to watch that.
"I definitely will go," he said in the post-race press conference, "and hopefully it is raining heavily, so it will be even more fun."
Raikkonen added: "Let's hope that he will keep his word."
News Source: Planet-F1
------------------------------
Dennis accuses the FIA of favouritism (again)
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has once again slammed the FIA for what he deems to be displaying favouritism towards Ferrari.
According to Dennis the new rules, especially those relating to long-life engines as well as tyres, which are expected to be implemented next season clearly favour Ferrari.
"The regulations proposed favour one team over another because of the circumstances they are in," Dennis told the BBC.
"If one team (Ferrari) has an engine that currently does 1,500km and another (McLaren) has one that does 500km and suddenly you've got a rule that the engine has to do two races, then you have a situation where those who are already close to that level have got a clear advantage."
"Similarly, if you've got a tyre that is very durable and has less degradation over the distance of a Grand Prix and then suddenly you've got a regulation that says we are only going to use one set of tyres for a Grand Prix, then that team is immediately at an advantage.
"Putting aside who gets what, that's deliberate and the key ingredient is how to destabilise the teams and take their focus aware from trying to create commercial stability."
However, an FIA spokesman says Dennis' accusations are "ridiculous". "Of all the ridiculous accusations that could be made against the FIA perhaps the most ridiculous is that we would want Ferrari to be more dominant," he said. "Did any of the people making these accusations actually watch the race in Hungary?"
"In reality the FIA's consultation with the teams on the new regulations has been very constructive. We understand that general agreement on the new regulations has already been reached. In that sense we feel that the consultation process has been very successful."
"It's to everyone's advantage to finalise the regulations sooner rather than later and we understand that most teams have already started working on designs for 2005 which meet the proposed regulations."
News Source: Planet-F1
-----------------------------
Geez Dennis .. ain't that getting a bit old??
Fruitfrenzy
Newcomer
Unknown Soldier said:
Surely this must be a joke ? Dennis is complaining because Ferrari build a better engine than Mercedes and some how its the FIA's fault ?
I think he needs to look else where for an explanation for his poor results.
Unknown Soldier
Veteran
Is retirement on Michael's mind?
With his seventh drivers' title now safely in the bag, Michael Schumacher has scheduled a press conference for the first day of this week's Monza test and, inevitably, there is speculation about what he might have to say. Tony Dodgins attempts to get inside the German's mind.
News Source: AutoSport
With his seventh drivers' title now safely in the bag, Michael Schumacher has scheduled a press conference for the first day of this week's Monza test and, inevitably, there is speculation about what he might have to say. Tony Dodgins attempts to get inside the German's mind.
News Source: AutoSport
Unknown Soldier
Veteran
BAT attempt to lure Button back to BAR
Jenson Button commitment to Williams has been tested after BAR's owners met with him in Belgium and reportedly offered him a substantial financial package to stay at BAR in 2005.
British American Tobacco are keen to ensure that Button's a BAR driver and not a Williams man in 2005. At the moment both teams claim that have him under contract for next year and the matter is likely to be settle in court.
However, hoping to pre-empt that BAT met with Button at Spa in the hope of persuading him to stay at BAR. The company reportedly offered the Brit a substantial payment to settle an outstanding dispute over bonuses.
However, whether the financial offer will sway Button's decision remains to be seen.
Jenson Button commitment to Williams has been tested after BAR's owners met with him in Belgium and reportedly offered him a substantial financial package to stay at BAR in 2005.
British American Tobacco are keen to ensure that Button's a BAR driver and not a Williams man in 2005. At the moment both teams claim that have him under contract for next year and the matter is likely to be settle in court.
However, hoping to pre-empt that BAT met with Button at Spa in the hope of persuading him to stay at BAR. The company reportedly offered the Brit a substantial payment to settle an outstanding dispute over bonuses.
However, whether the financial offer will sway Button's decision remains to be seen.
Unknown Soldier
Veteran
Schumi isn't quitting
Michael Schumacher's supporters can rest easy knowing that the seven-time World Champion has no intention of retiring at the end of the season.
Schumacher's announcement earlier this week that he'd be holding a press conference at Monza on Wednesday resulted in an anxious wait for his supporters, many of whom feared the worst - that he would be announcing his retirement. The Ferrari driver, though, did nothing of a sort.
Instead he repeated what he's said many times in the past, which is that as long as he's enjoying it he'll continue to race.
"I've heard that I was about to announce my retirement but I'm very sorry I'll have to disappoint whoever was thinking along those lines," the 2004 World Champ said during his press conference.
"I will keep on racing as long as I'm competitive. Maybe your job as journalists isn't that much fun anymore, but I still love my job. I see no reason at all to stop racing. I still really enjoy doing it."
"I love the sport, it's in my blood to compete and to fight. To try and beat my opponents and to win. That's what I'm living for in a way, and as long as I can live that dream, I want to live it."
News Source: Planet-F1
Michael Schumacher's supporters can rest easy knowing that the seven-time World Champion has no intention of retiring at the end of the season.
Schumacher's announcement earlier this week that he'd be holding a press conference at Monza on Wednesday resulted in an anxious wait for his supporters, many of whom feared the worst - that he would be announcing his retirement. The Ferrari driver, though, did nothing of a sort.
Instead he repeated what he's said many times in the past, which is that as long as he's enjoying it he'll continue to race.
"I've heard that I was about to announce my retirement but I'm very sorry I'll have to disappoint whoever was thinking along those lines," the 2004 World Champ said during his press conference.
"I will keep on racing as long as I'm competitive. Maybe your job as journalists isn't that much fun anymore, but I still love my job. I see no reason at all to stop racing. I still really enjoy doing it."
"I love the sport, it's in my blood to compete and to fight. To try and beat my opponents and to win. That's what I'm living for in a way, and as long as I can live that dream, I want to live it."
News Source: Planet-F1
Unknown Soldier
Veteran
Monza: Schumi unhurt in high-speed crash
Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher escaped unhurt from a huge shunt during Thursday's test session at Monza.
The Ferrari driver's left-rear Bridgestone tyre blew at the end of the start/finish straight while he was travelling at about 220mph(352 km/h). Schumacher's F2004 spun under braking and hit the barrier with both its front and rear ends.
Although Schumacher was able to climb from his stricken car he immediately lay down on the grass for a few minutes, evidently winded.
"Something happened to the left rear tyre, we don't know what yet, on the start/finish straight," Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told Reuters. "The car spun and hit the wall with the rear. Michael got out and lay down on the grass as a precaution."
Meanwhile Antonio Pizzonia was the fastest man on Day Two, clocking a 1:20.027 at the Italian circuit. His team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya was eighth fastest, finishing just over a second off the pace.
Tim Newton, Williams' Test Team Manager, said: "Juan Pablo drove for 69 laps today, concentrating on starts, set-up work and aero comparisons. Antonio completed 76 laps working on tyre testing as well as the set-up and aero comparisons for next weekend's race."
"Although we had a slow start to the day, our progress improved throughout the session. It has been quite a long day of work, with several red flags hampering running, but we still managed to successfully complete our programme."
Second place on Thursday went to Kimi Raikkonen. The McLaren driver completed 92 laps, setting a best time of 1:20.778, while Rubens Barrichello was 0.084 seconds slower than the Finn. The Ferrari driver only just managed to beat Anthony Davidson, as the BAR tester was 0.010s slower, while Takuma Sato was a further 0.102s back.
Despite his accident, which took place in the afternoon, Michael Schumacher was sixth quickest, with Fernando Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya completing the top eight.
Alonso's team-mate, Jarno Trulli, was another driver who crashed during the afternoon. He had an off-track excursion, which saw him sustain minor damage to the chassis. This meant he only completed four laps during the afternoon.
Christian Silk, Renault's Chief Test Engineer, said: "We lost half a day with Jarno's car and while this means we have not completed as much running as we would have liked, it has not significantly hampered our work."
Times
01 Pizzonia Williams 1:20.027 76 laps
02 Raikkonen McLaren 1.20.778 92 laps
03 Barrichello Ferrari 1:20.862 58 laps
04 Davidson BAR 1:20.872 58 laps
05 Sato BAR 1:20.974 91 laps
06 Schumacher Ferrari 1:21.055 96 laps
07 Alonso Renault 1:21.077 115 laps
08 Montoya Williams 1:21.090 69 laps
09 Coulthard McLaren 1:21.176 87 laps
10 Fisichella Sauber 1:21.176 87 laps
11 Klien Jaguar 1:21.502 62 laps
12 Button BAR 1:21.603 87 laps
13 Trulli Renault 1:21.652 32 laps
14 Webber Jaguar 1.21.675 62 laps
15 Panis Toyota 1:22.476 57 laps
16 Zonta Toyota 1.22.870 57 laps
17 Baumgartner Minardi 1:24.088 42 laps
18 Glock Jordan 1:24.122 86 laps
19 Bruni Minardi 1:25.024 17 laps
News Source: Planet F1
Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher escaped unhurt from a huge shunt during Thursday's test session at Monza.
The Ferrari driver's left-rear Bridgestone tyre blew at the end of the start/finish straight while he was travelling at about 220mph(352 km/h). Schumacher's F2004 spun under braking and hit the barrier with both its front and rear ends.
Although Schumacher was able to climb from his stricken car he immediately lay down on the grass for a few minutes, evidently winded.
"Something happened to the left rear tyre, we don't know what yet, on the start/finish straight," Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm told Reuters. "The car spun and hit the wall with the rear. Michael got out and lay down on the grass as a precaution."
Meanwhile Antonio Pizzonia was the fastest man on Day Two, clocking a 1:20.027 at the Italian circuit. His team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya was eighth fastest, finishing just over a second off the pace.
Tim Newton, Williams' Test Team Manager, said: "Juan Pablo drove for 69 laps today, concentrating on starts, set-up work and aero comparisons. Antonio completed 76 laps working on tyre testing as well as the set-up and aero comparisons for next weekend's race."
"Although we had a slow start to the day, our progress improved throughout the session. It has been quite a long day of work, with several red flags hampering running, but we still managed to successfully complete our programme."
Second place on Thursday went to Kimi Raikkonen. The McLaren driver completed 92 laps, setting a best time of 1:20.778, while Rubens Barrichello was 0.084 seconds slower than the Finn. The Ferrari driver only just managed to beat Anthony Davidson, as the BAR tester was 0.010s slower, while Takuma Sato was a further 0.102s back.
Despite his accident, which took place in the afternoon, Michael Schumacher was sixth quickest, with Fernando Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya completing the top eight.
Alonso's team-mate, Jarno Trulli, was another driver who crashed during the afternoon. He had an off-track excursion, which saw him sustain minor damage to the chassis. This meant he only completed four laps during the afternoon.
Christian Silk, Renault's Chief Test Engineer, said: "We lost half a day with Jarno's car and while this means we have not completed as much running as we would have liked, it has not significantly hampered our work."
Times
01 Pizzonia Williams 1:20.027 76 laps
02 Raikkonen McLaren 1.20.778 92 laps
03 Barrichello Ferrari 1:20.862 58 laps
04 Davidson BAR 1:20.872 58 laps
05 Sato BAR 1:20.974 91 laps
06 Schumacher Ferrari 1:21.055 96 laps
07 Alonso Renault 1:21.077 115 laps
08 Montoya Williams 1:21.090 69 laps
09 Coulthard McLaren 1:21.176 87 laps
10 Fisichella Sauber 1:21.176 87 laps
11 Klien Jaguar 1:21.502 62 laps
12 Button BAR 1:21.603 87 laps
13 Trulli Renault 1:21.652 32 laps
14 Webber Jaguar 1.21.675 62 laps
15 Panis Toyota 1:22.476 57 laps
16 Zonta Toyota 1.22.870 57 laps
17 Baumgartner Minardi 1:24.088 42 laps
18 Glock Jordan 1:24.122 86 laps
19 Bruni Minardi 1:25.024 17 laps
News Source: Planet F1
