Formula 1 - 2010 Season
- Thread starter Dave Baumann
- Start date
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
A Dutch F1 site had a nice article about Toyota performance in F1 btw:
2002: First race of Toyota in F1.
2009: Last race of Toyota in F1.
2009: Last race of Toyota in F1.
If Renault leaves, someone will buy the team because the team is good. Kubica won't drive in a McLaren until 2011 at the earliest, but he wants to go to Ferrari and not McLaren.
I don't see it happening.
Source? I heard something like Kubica not wanting to pair up with Hamilton though...
I can't remember where I read it and I can't find it.
Nevertheless, he is fluent in Italian, drove in the International Italian Junior Karting championship and he was the first non-Italian to win that.
It would be awesome if he can pair up with Alonso in the future.
Having said that, I think we need to actually give Kubica a competitive car. I hear people say he is overrated, well to me BMW was nothing good and he still managed to bring the title fight to last 2 races in 2008. Vettel has been given a chance and he has been making mistakes last season, let's see how Vettel can do in 2010.
My prediction will be that McLaren will struggle a bit because wheelbase is longer, this will favour Ferrari actually. Brawn GP and Red Bull will be strong as well.
Having said that, I think we need to actually give Kubica a competitive car. I hear people say he is overrated, well to me BMW was nothing good and he still managed to bring the title fight to last 2 races in 2008. Vettel has been given a chance and he has been making mistakes last season, let's see how Vettel can do in 2010.
My prediction will be that McLaren will struggle a bit because wheelbase is longer, this will favour Ferrari actually. Brawn GP and Red Bull will be strong as well.
Not sure that that will be that much of an issue. Last year McLaren had a car that favoured the faster corner tracks because they had a long wheelbase. They shortened the wheelbase late into this year so that they could alter the weight balance of the car because they were more restricted than other teams because of the KERS placement.
World Series by Renault? Joking aside, he's either lucked into a drive with a new team, or he's got a test driver position or he's out and has to go back to Finland and eat yellow snow.
If he sits out 2010, it'd be his and his management own damn fault. If they cannot get real and stop pretending that the Santander money doesn't exist when negotiating with other teams, they can just fuck off.
Joe Saward's latest blog posts: What is Renault up to? Why Ferrari is tough on the small teams
The team at Enstone is sound, and if Renault decides to walk away now or at the end of 2010, the team will be bought. It is a proven winner, they have great drivers for next year and if they design a good car for next year, Kubica may decide to lengthen his contract. Renault have proven that they are willing to develop a car to the end of the season (unlike BMW last year) and they have proven they can win races and championships (unlike BMW last year, at least the last part).
Regarding the politics, it is interesting what he's suggesting. Bernie (and thus CVC) can boss around a small new team more easily than a big, manufacturer backed team. 50% of the money the sport is generating is going to the wrong people.
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For the future of F1 lets hope the FIA and FOTA are able to get on better.
Hopefully there will be less scandals and soap opera moments for the 2010 season but I think it does increase ratings and thus advertising revenue.
I am very sad to see Toyota go, as I think with the right driver they were just about there in terms of performance. Sad to see them go, they certainly did not leave F1 with no achievements - shame that maiden win eluded them but even with it they would have left IMHO.
If the economy and car sales really pick up in 2010 (and indications are that the car industry is on the mend already) who thinks Honda, BMW and Toyota will be back by 2011?
Hopefully there will be less scandals and soap opera moments for the 2010 season but I think it does increase ratings and thus advertising revenue.
I am very sad to see Toyota go, as I think with the right driver they were just about there in terms of performance. Sad to see them go, they certainly did not leave F1 with no achievements - shame that maiden win eluded them but even with it they would have left IMHO.
If the economy and car sales really pick up in 2010 (and indications are that the car industry is on the mend already) who thinks Honda, BMW and Toyota will be back by 2011?
I don't see Honda buying Brawn back unless they have a water-tight clause. It looks like Mercedes is going to buy that team in the long term and make it a Mercedes works team. Honda could start a new team but this is very expensive and takes a long time, they could come back with the old Super Aguri outfit rebranded as Honda, though.
BMW? I don't care if they will be back, they have shown themselves not to be racers.
Toyota? Well, they never got a properly good driver even though they spent millions. They may be back, but they won't be successful without a stellar driver and without management which is willing to eschew kaizen and just get on with the business of racing which is not exactly the same as building Priuses.
IMO - no. It'll take a much longer cycle than that before we see the manufacturers coming back in a big way.
Autosport also put an article up that hit the nail on the head - there is not enough room for innovation in F1's rules at the moment to allow manufacturers to see this as a viable development route an have that rub off on the technologies on their consumer cars.
