Official F1 2005 Thread

Really, the last race was most boring F1 I've ever seen. It should tell something if Schumacher and Räikkönen are stuck at positions 15-16 for like 10 laps.
 
DaveBaumann & BBC News said:
But Ecclestone and Mosley's exclusive deal with Ferrari confirmed in most of the other team owners' minds their already serious fears that Ferrari had an unhealthily close relationship with the FIA.

And the special favours the new deal granted Ferrari finally drove Honda and Toyota - which had until then been sitting on the fence - into the manufacturers' camp.

Under the present arrangement, the teams are paid a proportion of F1's revenues based on a complicated - and secret - formula derived from their length of time in F1 and their success.

Inevitably, as F1's most successful and longest-running team, Ferrari get more money than anyone else.

No-one objects to that - even Ferrari's bitterest rivals feel they should be rewarded for having more pulling power with the public than any other team.

But the breakaway camp believes the new deal Ecclestone has struck with Ferrari goes too far - one insider has described it as "incredibly biased, a playing field that is not so much level as 45 degrees in favour of" Ferrari.

Among the issues concerning the rival teams and manufacturers are:
  • Ferrari are guaranteed $67m (£34.8m) every year - an estimated 15-20% of their budget - before any money is distributed to the other teams.
  • Ferrari have absolute veto over all changes agreed by the other teams, even if the other teams agree unanimously.
  • Ferrari would get more of F1's commercial revenue if they finished last than any other team would if they won the world championship.
Agreeing to this, one insider says, would be "perpetuating them having a permanent advantage; they already have an advantage".

Bah, despite me being a Ferrari fan, this just sucks :devilish:
 
Actually, putting it in Frank Williams' words, that article stinks.

What Frank commented on when he said the atmosphere in F1 stinks and the way that article only quoted what it wanted to, totally changed what Frank actaully said.

US
 
Rambler:

All that mess comes just from Ecclestone's politics. Ferrari wanted to dump F1, together with Mercedes, Williams and a few others and start a manufacturer series. Ecclestone managed to make Ferrari opt out of the group by giving them a bunch of money, thus killing the whole thing.
 
Except, so far, its done the opposite - rather than killing the manufacturer series Honda, Toyota and two of the independants have now signed up to its governing principles.
 
DaveBaumann said:
Except, so far, its done the opposite - rather than killing the manufacturer series Honda, Toyota and two of the independants have now signed up to its governing principles.

It's all irrelevant if the big ones aren't with them, especially Ferrari.
 
Well BMW (Williams + another), Mercedes (McLaren), Renault, Toyota and Honda are now all in the opposing camp. Only Ferrari has signed to the new concorde agreement whilst two are still sitting on the fence.

Whether or not the actual series gets off the ground is irrelevant, but the likely senario is that a series will run with a fairer team commerical and technical structure and without Mosely.
 
Mosley is only a honorary worker, it's Ecclestone doing all that politics stuff. He's going under, though. He only owns 25% of the business now and will be thrown out by the three banks who bought 75% last year. They sued him and will win with a vengeance, since they still don't run the business although they are the mayority.

There's a good article about the whole affair in the current issue of GQ, just read it yesterday. Nice read.

EDIT:
Meaning, if all that legal stuff works out as it's supposed to, there will be no need for another series, F1 will be ok again.
 
They are up in arms over the commercial issues surrounding the distribution of funds (in general and with the new deal with Ferrari) and they are also up in arms over the percieved leaning towards Ferrari's thinking (the meeting in which only Ferrari turned up and Mosley agreed a lot of things with them didn't help) and the fact that Mosely had implemented multiple changes at the last minute under the "safety" banner which have just served to increase costs and the manufacturers don't like the changes.
 
Well - I finally got to borrow my Dad's copy of the GPWC DVD that came with a copy of Autosport magazine a short while ago (it's the racing series they're launching thats tempting (at least trying to tempt) some of the teams away from F1 - (in case you didn't knw ;) ).

I have to admit - it looks pretty slick. If I was Mosley or Bernie, I'd actually be a little nervous... Looks like they might have some more serious competition heading their way... (Which is either good or really bad).
 
GPWC isn't just about keeping more of the money for themselves, it's also about self-determination - probably prompted by resentment of the large financial advantage and slanted playing field Ferrari have enjoyed that have helped them to their dominant position.

The recent massive bribe to Ferrari to stay with Ecclestone has had the effect of driving many teams that were sitting on the fence into the arms of the GPWC.

After all, if it ends up being Ferrari and Ecclestone on one side, and GPWC on the other with all the other teams and manufacturers, who is going to be doing any racing and selling the all-important TV rights? It isn't going to be the series with only one team on the starting grid, no matter how successful and famous they might be.
 
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros. said:
GPWC isn't just about keeping more of the money for themselves, it's also about self-determination - probably prompted by resentment of the large financial advantage and slanted playing field Ferrari have enjoyed that have helped them to their dominant position.

The recent massive bribe to Ferrari to stay with Ecclestone has had the effect of driving many teams that were sitting on the fence into the arms of the GPWC.

After all, if it ends up being Ferrari and Ecclestone on one side, and GPWC on the other with all the other teams and manufacturers, who is going to be doing any racing and selling the all-important TV rights? It isn't going to be the series with only one team on the starting grid, no matter how successful and famous they might be.

Ecclestone has MUCH power. He would rip their asses. That's why it hasn't happened yet, they've been trying for years already.

Ecclestone = power + FUD + money. Still, but not much longer.
 
_xxx_ said:
Ecclestone has MUCH power. He would rip their asses. That's why it hasn't happened yet, they've been trying for years already.

Ecclestone = power + FUD + money. Still, but not much longer.


The difference now is in the last few years a lot of the teams are now half owned by the car manufacturers (more last year before Ford got out). Now there's some real money and corporate motivation behind it.

I think originally the rebellion was intended to be used as a lever for the teams to get fairer terms out of Ecclestone, but as Ecclestone's positioned hardened and he once again dumped a load of money onto Ferrari, the teams and corporate suits on the other side of the table have been angered and become committed to the GPWC.

GPWC has gone from being something to scare Ecclestone, into a way for the teams to decide their own fate and get a more fair share of the money. I can really see it happening if Ecclestone doesn't do some compromising to cut it off.

GPWC has all the teams but Ferrari, and all the manufacturers but Ferrari. GPWC has almost all the support that counts. It could really happen this time around.
 
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros. said:
The difference now is in the last few years a lot of the teams are now half owned by the car manufacturers (more last year before Ford got out). Now there's some real money and corporate motivation behind it.

I think originally the rebellion was intended to be used as a lever for the teams to get fairer terms out of Ecclestone, but as Ecclestone's positioned hardened and he once again dumped a load of money onto Ferrari, the teams and corporate suits on the other side of the table have been angered and become committed to the GPWC.

GPWC has gone from being something to scare Ecclestone, into a way for the teams to decide their own fate and get a more fair share of the money. I can really see it happening if Ecclestone doesn't do some compromising to cut it off.

GPWC has all the teams but Ferrari, and all the manufacturers but Ferrari. GPWC has almost all the support that counts. It could really happen this time around.


maybe then i start watching races again....F1 is boring as hell and from what i read here is big pile of horseshit. ;)
 
Well it was the first race of the season .. and well hopefully the racing will get better as teams find out how well their tyres actually hold up.

Until then .. it's boring atm.

US
 
silence said:
maybe then i start watching races again....F1 is boring as hell and from what i read here is big pile of horseshit. ;)

It's been like that for the last ten years or so... :)
 
Sunshine and showers

As always the weather could play the deciding role in this weekend’s Malaysian GP with blistering hot conditions giving way to thunderstorms.

Thursday should see the first of the wet weather with thunderstorms forecast for much of the day. A high of 36 and a low of 24’C are expected for the day.

However, the weather should clear ahead of Friday’s two practice sessions. A high of 36 and a low of 23’C have been forecast together with a North Easterly wind of 6mph.

The sweltering conditions will prevail on Saturday as well with no chance of rainfall during the day’s only qualifying session. Both the morning’s two practice sessions and Qualifying One are expected to take place under clear and sunny skies, with the day’s high reaching 37’C.

However, the weather conditions will take a turn for the worse on Sunday and there’s a strong chance rain will fall during the afternoon’s 56-lap Malaysian GP.

Forecasters are predicting sunny spells as well as thunderstorms for the day. A high of 34 and a low of 25’C are expected together with a 2mph North Easterly wind.

News Source: Planet-F1

----------------------------------------

FIA clarification dents BAR's engine plans

Jenson Button and Takuma Sato could be docked ten places on the Malaysian GP grid if BAR goes ahead with its plans to race with new Honda engines in round two of the Championship.

Although both drivers were classified in race one, the Australian GP, neither actually finished the race, as BAR called them into the pits at the end of the penultimate lap.

The team’s reason for doing this was they had hope to exploit a loophole in the new engine regulation that states that a driver’s engine may be changed after just one race should he fail to finish that event. And having a new Honda engine instead of one that’s a race-old in the heat of Malaysia would be a huge advantage for BAR.

However, the FIA have put a dent in BAR’s plans after issuing a statement clarifying the new regulation.

“A distinction will now be made between failing to finish and choosing not to finish,†an FIA statement said.

“The former is normally accidental or beyond the control of the driver, while the latter is not.â€

“In order to ensure the purpose of the regulation is fully respected, and unless the reason is completely clear, in future we will require the team of any driver who fails to finish the first of two races to explain the circumstances surrounding the retirement to the stewards of the meeting.â€

This means that should either Button or Sato race with a new engine at Sepang the matter will be referred to the stewards and they could face a ten-grid slot penalty.

The FIA’s clarification comes just hours after Toyota slammed BAR “exploiting†the regulations.

"There has been a lot of controversy surrounding loopholes in the new rules but exploitation of such grey areas is against our understanding of racing," said Luca Marmorini, the technical director of Toyota's engine programme.

News Source: Planet-F1

---------------------------------------

Ferrari preview the Malaysian GP

Ferrari drivers Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher look ahead to round two of the F1 World Championship, the Malaysian GP...

Rubens Barrichello: "In a way, people are having to work for two races at a time, rather than working on the limit for one, so in Sepang we will see how the cars really perform. This is the real test. I have a certain mileage on my engine and I will have to look after it. It is an unknown for us. Is the car tough enough to keep on going? Will I have to pace myself? There are a lot of question marks, but I will be out to enjoy the experience: tyres, drivers and engines must all last to the very final corner."

"Michael has less mileage on his engine so he will probably be able to run more laps in free practice. But we operate as a team at Ferrari and so that will be good for me too. Over the course of the year, managing the situation if me and Michael end up out of synchronisation in terms of whether we are doing our first or second race with the same engine will be an interesting situation. I don’t know if that will arise with us too often, given our good reliability record. But it is a probability. At some tracks, as a driver you need more laps to get comfortable and that will certainly apply when we visit a new circuit, like in Turkey for example, where we need to learn the track."

"We have two very good guys, Luca Badoer and Marc Gene, testing for us and that meant Michael and I were able to have a break, which is going to be very important in such a long season."

Michael Schumacher: "The start of this Championship was very different to last year's. I scored zero points at the Australian GP and not the usual ten. Those that see this as a problem are welcome to; I don't see one. There will be a new hand dealt in Malaysia and I think that we have a chance of doing well."

"As ever the heat and humidity will play a very important role in determining who has managed to prepare best for the race. This year there is also the uncertainty generated by the new rules: most teams at Sepang, in fact, will be using engines that have already been employed for a whole grand prix weekend. More, facing qualification and race with a single set of tyres is not easy. So we have to wait to see exactly how this all plays out on the track. I can only state that Ferrari has, in recent years, been extraordinarily reliable."

"The circuit is an interesting one, as I have said in the past. It is very wide and so offers the chance to experiment with different racing lines. This is something we don't often encounter on the tracks we race on. At Sepang you have to try out different trajectories before opting for the ideal one. I'm not to sure what to expect from the Grand Prix of Malaysia. In the past few years the relative strengths displayed in Australia and Malaysia have always alternated. What is certain is that I can't wait for the race and that I want to score my first points in 2005, naturally as many as I can!"

News Source: Planet-F1
 
First Free Practise:

Code:
Pos  Driver        Team                  Time                  Laps
 1.  Zonta         Toyota            (M)  1:34.092               17
 2.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:35.144  +    1.052   15
 3.  Liuzzi        Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:35.691  +    1.599   18
 4.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:36.011  +    1.919   13
 5.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:36.513  +    2.421    9
 6.  Heidfeld      Williams-BMW      (M)  1:36.551  +    2.459    7
 7.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:36.563  +    2.471    6
 8.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:36.610  +    2.518    5
 9.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:36.963  +    2.871    4
10.  Webber        Williams-BMW      (M)  1:36.989  +    2.897    8
11.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:37.168  +    3.076    5
12.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:37.338  +    3.246    8
13.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:37.366  +    3.274    9
14.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:37.642  +    3.550    9
15.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:37.843  +    3.751    4
16.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:38.416  +    4.324    8
17.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:39.571  +    5.479   18
18.  Doornbos      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:40.289  +    6.197   20
19.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:40.375  +    6.283   14
20.  Friesacher    Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:43.574  +    9.482   18
21.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:43.691  +    9.599   12
22.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  No Time                 2
23.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  No Time                 2
24.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  No Time                 2

Second Free Practise:

Code:
Pos  Driver        Team                  Time                  Laps
 1.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:35.608               19
 2.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:35.620  +    0.012   13
 3.  Zonta         Toyota            (M)  1:35.677  +    0.069   30
 4.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:35.719  +    0.111    6
 5.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:35.838  +    0.230   16
 6.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:35.841  +    0.233   16
 7.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:35.949  +    0.341    7
 8.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:35.992  +    0.384   19
 9.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:36.103  +    0.495   15
10.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:36.575  +    0.967   20
11.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:36.841  +    1.233   18
12.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:36.968  +    1.360   19
13.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:37.033  +    1.425   31
14.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:37.044  +    1.436   18
15.  Heidfeld      Williams-BMW      (M)  1:37.067  +    1.459   17
16.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:37.270  +    1.662   22
17.  Doornbos      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:37.878  +    2.270   23
18.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:38.121  +    2.513   19
19.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:38.855  +    3.247   21
20.  Liuzzi        Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:39.349  +    3.741   11
21.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:39.755  +    4.147   21
22.  Friesacher    Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:40.940  +    5.332   19
23.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:41.156  +    5.548   16
24.  Webber        Williams-BMW      (M)  No Time                 2
 
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