F1 2009 Season discussion/development thread

NightSt@lk3r said:
The Ford GT GT2 is built by Kevin Doran in the USA, we will have 3 or 4 Aston Martin Vantage's running on this side of the pond in 2009, and with regards to Ferrari and Porsche it was the other way round:p
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Depends if you mean LMS or FIA GT

LMS is basically all Porsches, whereas you are right about the FIA GT championship, which is full of Ferraris.

I thought the Ford GT spawned from the Japanses GT championship? But was is USA built and then run in Japan? Am I also correct in thinking that Ford didnt want anyone to race the GT, but these guys just went ahead anyway :)

And which series are we getting these Vantage GT2's in? I will definately be making a trip to Silverstone for whichever (LMS or FIA GT) championship has these beautys in!
 
Skeeter said:
Depends if you mean LMS or FIA GT

LMS is basically all Porsches, whereas you are right about the FIA GT championship, which is full of Ferraris.
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6 Porsche's to 4 Ferrari's in the LMS so not a big difference

Skeeter said:
I thought the Ford GT spawned from the Japanses GT championship? But was is USA built and then run in Japan? Am I also correct in thinking that Ford didnt want anyone to race the GT, but these guys just went ahead anyway :)
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The Ford GT in the Japanese GT is a completely different car built by a different company and is in no way connected with the GT2 version(hardly any of the original car remains in the JGT version), and its not that ford didnt want anyone to race them, its that ford was reluctant to give any financial funding or support to them to build it.

Skeeter said:
And which series are we getting these Vantage GT2's in? I will definately be making a trip to Silverstone for whichever (LMS or FIA GT) championship has these beautys in!
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Looking like Both series will have them.
 
Duke said:
Wasn't long till Villeneuve stuck his oar in.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72347
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Stuck his oar in? Do you think he phoned autosport?

He was asked a question and he answered it, hardly any revelation it's what every one has been saying anyway. It's pretty much a non article.





Don't the teams still have to pay Ferrari some money for having them in F1?

Overlag, why do you think they need cheaper race tickets to get more fans at the tracks? How would that have saved honda or any other team. They don't get that revenue. The teams would be just as happy to race on empty circuits and get a bigger share of the TV money and sponsorship deals.

I personally welcome any cost cutting but I'd rather see a standard chassis and let them play with their own engine. Or let them do what the hell they like but limit to a 50 million budget. It would slow down developement and for the teams paying the highest driver wages they would have less to spend on the car.
 
hp7909 said:
Sad. Hope Jenson gets a good seat & proves himself
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Button has been proving himself over the last few years. He is proving that after 1 race win and 2 good seasons, he is happy to pick up a big salary and live the high life, without having the pressure on his shoulders were he running at the front of the grid, against the likes of Massa, Alonso or Hamilton.

I have no idea why so many people here believe that he is a good driver.

The season in which he got his race win, he was hungry and trying very very hard. After that, things just peetered out, until even an old man like Barrichello was out-qualifying him.

And to think, some individuals on this forum believed that he could give Hamilton a run for his money.
 
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sunama said:
Button has been proving himself over the last few years. He is proving that after 1 race win and 2 good seasons, he is happy to pick up a big salary and live the high life, without having the pressure on his shoulders were he running at the front of the grid, against the likes of Massa, Alonso or Hamilton.

I have no idea why so many people here believe that he is a good driver.

The season in which he got his race win, he was hungry and trying very very hard. After that, things just peetered out, until even an old man like Barrichello was out-qualifying him.

And to think, some individuals on this forum believed that he could give Hamilton a run for his money.
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Button has had absolutely no "drive" for years now. He's become a Patrese in about a quarter of the time it took Riccardo!
 
I'm quite shocked that some of you are talking about F1 dissapearing. I highly doubt this, bearing in mind that it has survived many decades.

F1 will find a way to survive and I believe the start of next year will be fascinating.

Honda were a team battling for the back of the grid, so its not really a big loss. They are a big name, but they just couldnt get it together - for whatever reason. Obviously the bosses very high up must've said, enough is enough. If Honda were doing well, then perhaps they might've stayed, but the Honda management probably conceded that they wouldn't be competitive for at least another few years. That must've been the last straw.

What amazes me is that Toyota are still happy to break records in terms of team budget and continue to plod along, in the middle of the grid. With that sort of money, they could put together a super team (and we are talking the likes of Newey, Alonso and Brawn, all in a single team). I'm not sure how long Toyota senior managment will continue to accept mediocrity.
 
Duke said:
Yes, because comparing the Honda 2007 and 2008 cars to Mclarens is fair :p
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No, but you compare how Button compared to his team-mate and how Hamilton compared to his team-mate.

Heikki and Barrichello probably arent that far apart from one another, but Hamilton totally dominated his team-mate, while Button got beat by his.

Button is not world championship material. Hamilton is mulitple world championship material. Comparing Button to Hamilton is an insult to Hamilton. The only drivers in the current F1 grid who should be mentioned in the same breath as Hamilton are Alonso, Massa, Vettel, Kubica and maybe Kimi (based on his pre-2008 performances).

I know that there are some loyal fans of Button, but you have to be realistic on what he is able to achieve.
 
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Lopéz said:
Button has had absolutely no "drive" for years now.
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Damn straight.

He has just got used to driving at the back of the grid, where he is never under the spotlight and where nothing is expected of him.

Its a shame - as much as I lament him on this forum, I do believe him to be one of the most naturally gifted drivers currently in F1.

Out of interest, does anybody know which teams he now has the option of joining, as there is now a possibility of him leaving F1 for good?
 
sunama said:
And to think, some individuals on this forum believed that he could give Hamilton a run for his money.
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Even when he did have a faster car he made a lot less mistakes than hamilton does and continues to make.

When he had the 2nd fastest car on the grid he drove just about faultless races.

You don't half waffle on sometimes basing your own feelings as some kind of fact. Heikki and rubens at the same level. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest one is better or worse than the other.

In another thread you said you rated Hekki as one of the worse drivers on the grid, now though because it suits this discussion he's on the same level as Rubens.

Of course hamilton is multi champion material, he's in the best car on the grid. Take him out and put any of 5 or 6 others in the car and they would be multi winners.

Yet you rate Massa as a driver that can be mentioned in the same breath as hamilton based on pre 2008????

WTF massa didn't do any thing at all prior to having todts son as his manager. He certainly never did any thing like button has in inferior equipment. Yet he almost won a title against a guy who did his damn best to throw a title away for two years.

Is Button as good as hamilton, most likely not. Yet I still believe he would have won the title in a mclaren with half the aggro and mistakes.
 
Im absolutely gutted by the Honda withdrawl and really hope that the team gets bought by someone, as the new car is likely to be pretty special with Brawn at the design and developement stage

Button had an awful season no doubt about it - Barrichello didnt have a much better one (GB GP where he scored the majority of his points was hte main difference), but I still think Button deserves a really decent car (which he has never really had)
 
Actually this concept of allowing teams to use V10 Cosworth engines, OR build their own V10 Cosworth engine by following the blueprints OR continue using their own V8 engine... it's quite good.

Especially if they let the V8 engines a little more room to improve... i.e. perhaps increase the RPM limit to 20,000 or so.

It will be like the old N/A vs Turbo days era.
 
NathanE said:
Actually this concept of allowing teams to use V10 Cosworth engines, OR build their own V10 Cosworth engine by following the blueprints OR continue using their own V8 engine... it's quite good.

Especially if they let the V8 engines a little more room to improve... i.e. perhaps increase the RPM limit to 20,000 or so.

It will be like the old N/A vs Turbo days era.
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I believe it'll be a V8 unit. Like the one Williams used in 2006.
 
Not to sure about having to use the standard transmission, but a cheap engine for the likes of williams and the big boys still creating their own sounds like a win/win to me.

What other teams would likely go for this though? Are Toro Rosso still using customer ferrari ones next year, and what about RBR? Force India are pleased as punch about the McLaren deal so that leaves...um...nobody? Maybe we'll see some smaller teams making a comeback (Lotus anyone) or some new players entering the game.
 
I'm saddened to see Honda pull out, they seem to have really pushed their image over the past 2-3 years as a company and competing in a lot of racing groups.

Was it 700 staff over here alone that will be affected? Its beyond my understanding to shut up shop so suddenly.

Its no point now, bernie/fia stating changes are need etc. They have screwed a lot off the teams, off the back of the popularity of F1. Now times are harder, and expenses at all levels need looking at you would have thought this scenario would have been prempted.

Still, 50/50 blame on mismanagement of F1 and the out of control spending on the cars has really damaged F1 in my opinion. Seeing Honda go is very disturbing. If changes are made to square out the costs assiociated then they should have been done 2 season ago.
 
AmTechFox said:
I'm saddened to see Honda pull out, they seem to have really pushed their image over the past 2-3 years as a company and competing in a lot of racing groups.

Was it 700 staff over here alone that will be affected? Its beyond my understanding to shut up shop so suddenly.

Its no point now, bernie/fia stating changes are need etc. They have screwed a lot off the teams, off the back of the popularity of F1. Now times are harder, and expenses at all levels need looking at you would have thought this scenario would have been prempted.

Still, 50/50 blame on mismanagement of F1 and the out of control spending on the cars has really damaged F1 in my opinion. Seeing Honda go is very disturbing. If changes are made to square out the costs assiociated then they should have been done 2 season ago.
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Problem is that if you want to compete you have to put in the development work ie 10-20 noses at a cost of £30k each just for crash-test/pre-race aero.

Costs soon mount up.Its not a off the shelf sport and people who are comparing it to MOTO GP are quite frankly stupid.
 
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