2005/2006 F1 News and Testing.

[Flibster]

Superb preview of Renault F1 - keep them coming

Some of the re-written one above...

Now hoping to get the thread up by thursday...

Toooo much info....

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

I like Midland logo #4 with #1 second.

And at the Renault info, VERY good

Looks like No4 is in the lead then.

As for the Relault info - thats been tweaked as well again..

However - still got the drivers to do...teams took long enough but there's 22 drivers now... *eep*

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

Kinda obvious that one but he's right, they have to make hay while the sun shines and get points on the board while everyone fixes their engines.

and while their V10 is legal and isn't being restricted to hell and back.

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

Something's just occurred to me, Aguri Suzuki has announced that he's going to retire from motorsport fairly soon - something like 2009/10, I can't find the article now. Now that begs the question, why go to the hassle of setting up a team from scratch if you're going to walk away?

Is this a shrewd investment? Sure you need to find $48million to join the club but that gets paid back at $2million a month for 2 years and hence is taken as part of the operating budget. Now if F1 stays together beyond 2007 there is likely to be a queue of folk wanting in - Prodrive, Eddie Irvine, Roger Penske to name three. Suddenly even a struggling team has one precious commodity that no-one outside has, an F1 entry.

Therefore, is Super Aguri an interesting take on a retirement fund?

EDIT: He's said he'll quit at 50, he's 45 now so take that as finishing up at the end of 2010.

Good point - has the team and factory in place...

Could be a wise investment.

Honda paid the $48 million bond so he's in the clear there - obvious purchaser is Honda at the end of the run, thats if they want to stay in F1.

Prodrive are building their own facility, Penske will probably run from their base in the USA, that leaves Irvine *that we know of anyway*

Would he run from Ireland, Russia *where his business partner is based* or somewhere else?

Sure I've read about others who are lookign to join - just can't remember where now...

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

4 drivers bio's to go....Then I can start on the technical and regulation changes...

I think that organisation will be needed next year. At least this is keep me quiet as I'm off ill at the moment.

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

Does Penske still have their base down in Poole or did that disappear when they stopped manufacturing their own chassis for Champ car?

Pretty sure it still exists here as well.

Not sure who owns it or what state it's in though.

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

Ide's F1 debut in doubt

Super Aguri rookie Yuji Ide's Formula One debut could be under a dark cloud.

It is reported that the 31-year-old Japanese could still be suffering from headaches and visual problems after a crash in the final round of Japanese GT last season.

According to speculation, Ide might be asked to pass a medical test staged by FIA doctor Dr. Gary Hartstein prior to opening practice for Sunday's Bahrain grand prix.

 

[Flibster]

Who? :/

I'm getting all bouncy and excited now, 4 days to go

Predictions for this year? (Sorry if its been done, cba looking through 800,000 pages )

Errr.. Ide is Takuma Sato's teammate...

You'll be able to read about him in the thread that will be going up - TONIGHT. *I finished it....finally....*

Predictions...

Oooh...

I honestly have no idea.
Testing has been wide open this year.

Renault - Fast and reliable - definately possible for another top year. Alonso leaving could hand Fisichella the No1 status though

McLaren - Very fast and semi-reliable. Been getting better - if Mercedes can hold it together then they will definately be in with a good shot at the titles. Raikkonen top dog here, unless Montoya fights back *especially as his contract was not extended*

Ferrari - Not as fast as I was expecting and fragile - especially around the engine. More failures than Mercedes doesn't bode well. Schumacher will make the best of the car unless it's a real dog like last year - in which case he'll give up again. Massa needs to prove that he deserves the Ferrari seat.

Toyota - Been mostly reliable and reasonably quick. Trulli should do well again. Ralf needs to justify his paycheck though.

WilliamsF1 - Consistantly fast *Not the fastest though* and reliable. The engine appears to be an absolute peach though. Webber and Rosberg is an interesting pairing. Not sure Rosberg is up to it though.

Honda - Fastest throughout testing and the most reliable of all the teams in testing as well. If it continues then it definately could be Honda's year. However - Button needs a win this year. Honda have no excuses in '06

Red Bull - Fragile... Very fragile. Quick when it runs, but not completing a race distance *let alone 2* could be disasterous... Coulthard is driving to stay in F1 this year.

BMW Sauber - Done very little of note in testing. Seem reliable though. Can't really say more than that as they've generally tested away from other teams - trying to hide something?

Midland F1 - Pay driver linup and an obsolete chassis - albeit with a Toyota V8 engine - not been quick in testing - but reliability may help them score some points early on and at car breaker circuits.

Toro Rosso - Bulletproof engine and essentially last years Red Bull may help them if the FIA doesn't strangle the engine. Should be able to score some solid points.

Super Aguri - Honda V8 and a seriously outmoded chassis means the car is going to be a right handfull. New car coming out in April/May but will it be any better? Car also seems unreliable too. Driver lineup also dubious. The occasional point of reliability knocks out others could be possible.

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

Super Aguri. They seem to get widely panned, but they have a 2006 spec Honda V8, my guesswork deduces that the new chassis will be a modified BAR, they will be beating Midland and Torro Rosso by the end of the year.

Can't use a modified chassis - they have to own the interlectual rights for the original chassis - which they don't. It'll have to be penned by their own designer.

Who that is - I'm not sure but they can't be that wanted if they'e not in a team already. They certainly haven't been spending big - mostly everything has been paid for by Honda...

(flibsters fault?) I

Oh.. .....

Just wait till the GP thread comes up...

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

*F5**F5**F5**F5**F5*

You know what they say - A watched pot never boils.

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

I said it would be tonight...

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=6609388

Simon/~Flibster

 

[Flibster]

Probably wise.

The last couple of testing posts I can lob into the Bahrain GP thread.

Cheers

Simon/~Flibster